(1918) The Ahmadiyya Movement In Islam

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES

THE RELIGIOUS

LIFE

OF INDIA

EDITED BY J.

N.

FARQUHAR,

M.A., D.Litt.

LITERARY SECRETARY, NATIONAL COUNCIL, YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS, INDIA AND CEYLON ;

AND

NICOL MACNICOL,

M.A., D.Litt.

ALREADY PUBLISHED THE VILLAGE GODS OF SOUTH

INDIA.

By

the

Bishop

of Madras.

VOLUMES UNDER PREPARATION THE VAISHNAVISM OF PANDHARPUR. M.A.,

By Nicol Macnicol,

D.Litt., Poona.

THE CHAITANYAS.

By M. T. Kennedy, M.A.,

THE SRl-VAISHNAVAS.

By

THE SAIVA SIDDHANTA.

E. C.

Worman, M.A.,

By G.

E.

Calcutta.

Madras.

Phillips, M.A., and

Francis Kingsbury, Bangalore.

THE VIRA

SAIVAS.

By

the Rev.

W.

E.

Tomlinson, Gubbi,

Mysore.

THE BRAHMA MOVEMENT.

By Manilal C. Parekh, B.A.,

Rajkot, Kathiawar.

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT.

By

I.

N. C. Ganguly,

B.A., Calcutta.

THE

SUFIS. By R. Siraj-ud-Din, B.A., and H. A. Walter, M.A., Lahore.

THE KHOJAS. By W. M. Hume, B.A., Lahore. THE MALAS AND MADIGAS. By the Bishop of

Dornakal

and P. B. Emmett, B.A., Kurnool.

THE CHAMARS. ByG. W. Briggs, B.A., Allahabad. THE DHEDS. By Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson, M.A.,

D.Sc,

Rajkot, Kathiawar.

THE MAHARS. THE

BHILS.

By D. Lewis,

THE CRIMINAL Bijapur.

By A. Robertson, M.A., Poona.

TRIBES.

Jhalod,

By O.

Panch Mahals.

H.

B.

Starte,

I.C.S.,

EDITORIAL PREFACE The purpose

of

this

series

small volumes

of

on the

leading forms which religious life has taken in India produce really reliable information for the use of all are seeking the welfare of India. desire to

work

in

the

spirit

is

to

who

Editor and writers alike

of the

best

modern

science,

But, while doing so and seeklooking only for the truth. ing to bring to the interpretation of the systems under review such imagination and sympathy as characterise the

domain of religion to-day, they believe they are able to shed on their work fresh light drawn from the close religious intercourse which they have each had best study in the

with the people and their study

who of

live by the faith herein described the relevant literature has in every ;

instance been largely supplemented by persistent questionIn each ing of those likely to be able to give information. case the religion described is brought into relation with It is believed that all readers in India at Christianity.

recognize the value of this practical method of bringing out the salient features of Indian religious life.

least will

HAZRAT MIRZA BASHIR-UD-DIN MAHMUD AHMAD KHALIFA-UL-MASIH.

THE RELIGIOUS

LIFE OF INDIA

THE

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT BY H. A. MEMBER

WALTER,

OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY

M.A. ;

LITERARY SECRETARY,

NATIONAL COUNCIL, YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF INDIA AND CEYLON

ASSOCIATION PRESS 5

RUSSELL STREET, CALCUTTA

HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON,

NEW YORK, TORONTO, MELBOURNE BOMBAY AND MADRAS 1918

TO

MY MOTHER AND FATHER Whose

Loving Sacrifice has

Entered

into the Making of this Book.

IIS

PREFACE My

primary purpose in undertaking this study of one the most significant and (outside of India) little-known

of

modern movements among Muslims was not that of answering from the Christian viewpoint the claim of Mirza of

Ghulam Ahmad come

"

to be the

in the spirit

"

"

promised Messiah

and power

"

of Jesus Christ.

who

has

This has

been done already in the pamphlets of Dr. H. D. Griswold and Rev. Thakur Dass, mentioned in the bibliography at the close. My first aim has been rather to sketch the history and tenets of the

part as

its

founder and

Ahmadlya movement, his disciples

for the

most

have themselves con-

as far as I could in their own language. be largely possible, since a survey of the literature of the movement in Arabic and Urdu, made with

ceived I

it,

and to do

have found

the help of

me

it

this to

my

Maulvi

friend,

S.

T. Ghaus, has convinced

that nearly everything of essential importance in the

development of the cult, from the Ahmadlya viewpoint, its English publications, chiefly in The is to be found in

Review issue

of

of Religions,

from

which

I

In

the

have read nearly every the footnotes I have

beginning. explained, for the benefit of the reader not familiar with

Muslim

the orthodox

faith,

peculiar to Islam, and

also

such words and ideas allusions

sonalities pertaining to India or the in general.

The

connection

to

Muhammadan

world

Ahmadlya movement Khwajah Kamal-ud-Din, a

of the

with the English mission of connection not now emphasized by the '<

as are

events and per-

6

latter, has

been

PREFACE

8

indicated

the

in

interest

which

West.

In the

sixth

because

chapter

may have

this

the

of

special

for students of Islam

the

in

have endeavoured briefly to set forth the permanent place and significance of the movement in its relation to the general development in India of last

chapter

Muslim thought and

life.

I

I

have made no attempt to deal

Muslim eschatowhose mazes MIrza Ghulam Ahmad, like so many other self-designated Mahdis, wandered undismayed. I at

length with the puzzling subject of

logy, in

have here,

much

elsewhere, endeavoured to introduce only so of the orthodox faith as seemed

as

of the

background

necessary to an adequate understanding of the subject of this study.

With regard to the Urdu and Arabic words, I

transliteration

into

of

English

have, to avoid confusion, taken

the liberty in most instances of introducing the uniform I have sought to follow, into the many

system, which

English quotations from

was

Ahmadiya

when

writings,

there

originally little attempt at accurate transliteration. I

mention the generous assistance

desire to

of several

who

contributed variously and essentially to the I refer to Dr. H. D. writing and publishing of this book. Griswold, Secretary of the Council of American Presbyterian friends

Missions

in

India, at

library of

carried

Ahmadiya

out

department

whose

original

suggestion

it

was

and without the loan of whose extensive

undertaken

to

;

Mr. the

of

literature

Abdul

it

could scarcely have been Rahim, of the editorial

Ahmadiya community, who was my visit to Qadian and has

friendly host on the occasion of a

been

my most

constant and reliable informant

relating to present conditions within the

Professor D. B.

Seminary,

who

Macdonald,

in

matters

movement

of the Hartford

;

to

Theological

has rendered invaluable assistance, especially

PREFACE in

to

9

connection with the references to Muslim eschatology; Professor

Siraj-ud-DIn, of

Lahore, to

whom

I

am

and to my brotherin-law, Rev. William Brower Johnson, and my colleagues indebted for

in

the

many

useful suggestions

Young Men's

Frank Speer Coan, for

helping forward

;

Christian Association in India, Messrs. W. M. Hume, and F. de L. Hyde, in various

ways the preparation

of the

manuscript for the press. Lahore,

H A

Oct. 10th, 1918.

*

W

'

CONTENTS CHAP I.

II.

PAGE

.

Mirza

The

Ghulam Ahmad

..

..

Distinctive Claims of

Ahmad

..

..13

..

..

25

Islam..

53

III.

The Ahmadiya Movement and Orthodox

IV.

The Ahmadiya Movement and

V.

The Ahmadiya Movement and the Religions of India

VI. VII.

Christianity

.

.

.

The Ahmadiya Community The

Ahmadiya Bibliography

.

.

.

.

.

101

Indigenous .

.

..

.

..Ill

.

131

.

.

.

.

.

.

141

.

.

.

.

.

.

142

II

145

III

146

IV

151

V

153

VI

155

VII

160

•

Index

I

..

75

Ahmadiya Movement..

Significance of the

Appendix

.

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

163

ERRATA While this book was passing through the press the author died suddenly of influenza. As a consequence the book has not received the final revision in proof that it would have had from the author himself, and it is feared that

a

number

of

misprints,

especially

in

transliterated

words, have escaped detection. For example, the word Mahdi appears wrongly on pages 8, 16, 21, and 147 as Mahdi.

25, 37, 38, 39, 48, 51, 71, 72, 73, 111, 119, 132, 138

Also on page

171 (end of Note 1), read p. 222. (end of Note 2), read VII, p. 241. 41 for " Qderaculous Ode," read " Miraculous Ode."

13 for

24

p.

for VII, p. 7

Review of Religions I, p. 79, read I, p. 80. 41 for Sharik (Note 7), read Sharik. 48 for Review of Religions V, p. 363, read V, p. 365. 41 for

Mulham.

55

for

Mulhlm,

93

for

Yesu (Note 2), read Yisu.

97

Review of pp. 434-435.

for

104

for p. 69,

120

for

128

134

read

Religions IV, pp. 34-435,

Note 2 (Note 1), read

Review

for p. 104,

of Religions

Note

1

IV

,

p. 82,

p. 221, read

(Note 2), read

Note

XV,

p. 107,

read 3.

p. 224.

Note

2.

Tahzih-'uI-Akhllq, read Tahzib-'ul-Akhlaq. 136 for p. 103 (Note 3), read p. 133. 153 for Sheikh Rahmahillah, read Sheikh Rahmatullah. for

Table

of Contents,

Chapter IV,

for p. 75, read 77.

The

Editors.

CHAPTER

I

MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD

1

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Khan was born in the village Qadian, Gurdaspur District, Panjab, on the eighteenth 2 of June, 1839, the year marked by the death of Ranjit He boasted Singh, the great Sikh ruler and warrior. of a good Mughal ancestry, and hence bore the title, " Mirza," which is used to designate one who belongs to His family emigrated from Central the Mughal race. of

in the sixteenth century, in the reign of Babar, and settled in the Panjab, where they were granted a large tract of land, about seventy miles from Lahore. The capital of this little State was known as Islampur, and The family suffered persecution is the modern Qadian. and expulsion in the early days of Sikh rule, but under Ranjit Singh the father of Ghulam Ahmad, Mirza Ghulam Murtaba, received back a portion of the property which had belonged to the family and returned to Qadian. Under the British Government, which succeeded to that of the Sikhs, Mirza Ghulam Murtaba set an example of loyalty to British rule, in the days of the great mutiny of 1857, to which his son has often referred with justifiable

Asia to India

from which the facts regarding Mirza Ghulam have been culled are conversations with his followers and with Christian missionaries and others who were personally acquainted with him, a brief biography in Urdu by Mi'raj-ud-Din, prefixed to the first edition of the Bardhin-i-Ahmadiya, a recent biography in Urdu, of which all the parts have not yet appeared, by Mirza Yakub Beg (Qadian, 1916), and a memorial article in The Review of Religions for June, 1908 (p. 171). 2 Recent references to the date of Ahmad's birth place it vaguely " some time in 1836 or 1837 " (Review of Religions, XV, p. 26), but the date given here is the one generally accepted by his biographers. 1

The

Ahmad's

sources

life

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

14

The father was by profession a native physician of learning, and desired that his son, who early showed an aptitude for study, should be well educated in accordance with the ideas and standards of the time. From his sixth to his tenth year he studied with a Persian tutor. From that time until he was seventeen an Arabic scholar pride.

some

and holy man was his instructor, and under his tuition he the foundation of that exceptional facility of expression in the Arabic language which was to serve him so well in later years. Some time after his seventeenth year laid

secured for the studious, visionary lad employment Government service, in a subordinate capacity, in the office of the Deputy Commissioner at Sialkot but a few his father

in

;

years of this service sufficed to convince Mirza. Ghulam Murtaba that his son possessed no aptitude for business. He then endeavoured to induce him to study law, with a view to his becoming a pleader, but this the lad resolutely refused to do. One fruit of his residence in Sialkot was an acquaintance which it yielded with some missionaries of the Church of

Scotland, residing there, with in

religious

discussion.

whom

he spent many hours importance for future contact with Christian mis-

The

doctrine of this the formative years of Ahmad's life, it would be difficult to exaggerate. After four years of this service he resigned and returned to Qadian, where he was desired by his father to assist the family in connection with the law-suits arising out of the estate. There also his entire lack of business acumen soon became evident. Some time before his father's death, in 1876, the efforts of the latter to assure to the young man some measure of worldly advancement had ceased, and he was left to his own devices. After his father died the slight constraint which the parental ambition may have exerted was removed, and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad lived quietly at Qadian, studying the Qur'an, the traditions and the commentators, and making himself somewhat familiar with the tenets of the different religions of the world. His hatred of the world grew upon him, and various eccentricities developed. His friendly bio-

Ahmadiya

sionaries, during

MIRZA GHULAM

AHMAD

15

grapher, Mi'raj-ud-DIn, writing after his death, in 1908, some of his personal peculiarities, developed in those early years of obscurity, such as his habit of eating bits of As he earth and his abnormal fondness for sweets. walked the streets, with his thoughts in the heavens and his pockets filled with sweets, the urchins of the street, aware of his weakness, would abstract the sweets and make off with them, while the erstwhile owner proceeded In one instance mischievous innocently on his way. youths stuffed a brick into the pocket where the sweets had been, and its presence was not discovered until the Mirza. Sahib lay down to sleep at night. At another time, writes a more recent biographer, Mirza. Yakub Beg, he neglected to remove one of his shoes at night and slept unconscious of the fact until the morning, when, after a On another long search, he accidentally discovered it. occasion his clothes caught fire, and the fire was extinguished by a friend, while he himself remained oblivious of the danger. story, which is told to illustrate both his detachment from worldly affairs and his recognition of the tells of

A

working of Divine Providence in all things, relates how on one occasion his little son, aged four (the present "Khalifa," Bashir-ud-DIn Mahmud Ahmad), came into his room and burned all of his father's writings which he could discover. The Mirza Sahib paid no attention to what was happening, and when informed of it merely remarked, "There is some benefit from God in this." When told that a poor woman had stolen some rice from his kitchen, he is said to " have replied, Let us say nothing about it, but give her some more if she is in need of it." All his life he suffered from diabetes (polyuria) and vertigo. From his youth he had strange visions and dreams, which he interpreted himself, and in which he always figured in some pre-eminent capacity.

Meantime he was

exercising and developing his ability excellent Persian, Arabic and Urdu. In 1880 appeared the first two parts of his most celebrated work, the Barahin-i- Ahmadlya (Ahmadlya Proofs), and although in the exposition of Muslim doctrines contained therein there was already present the germ of the unique Ahmadlya as a writt.'iof

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

16

teachings, which formed with orthodox Muslims, acclaimed (in so far as

Muhammadan world, The turning point

the

basis

of

his later

quarrels

book was quite universally it was read), throughout the a work of power and originality. the career of the MIrza Sahib and

as

in

this

the real beginning of the independent existence of the Ahmadlya movement occurred on the 4th of March, 1889, when he announced a divine revelation giving him the right to accept bai'dt {i.e., homage paid to a king or to a There then came into religious leader) from a disciple. existence a little group of individuals who accepted his

guidance

in all

matters pertaining to the spiritual

life.

It

was not until 1891, however, that Ahmad made the declaration which caused a sharp line of demarcation to be drawn between himself and the larger world of Islam. He then announced that he was both the promised Messiah and the

Mahdi expected by Muslims, and sought position in three books

:

—Fateh

From

and Izala-i-Auham.

that

to

make

clear his

Islam, Tanzih-i-Maram time forward his life was

with orthodox Muhammadans, Arya Samaj leaders and Christians. Through the activity of one of his most persistent enemies, Maulvi Muhammad Husain, formerly his friend and co-worker, a fatwa (legal pronouncement by a Muslim authority on 1 canon law) was secured, bearing the confirmatory seals of many important mullahs throughout India, excommunicating Ahmad and his followers from Islam on account of heresy, and declaring that their destruction was thenceforth 2 sanctioned in accordance with orthodox law. On his part, the MIrza Sahib now became very active and vocal in his denunciation of his enemies. Again and again he was haled into court particularly in connection with his various prophecies of death or disgrace to be visited upon involved

in

bitter

controversy

—

3

In some cases, as will appear hereafter, particular foes. these were so literally fulfilled as to cause strong suspicion that steps had been taken by Ahmad's followers, with or

without not

fail 1

his

cognizance, to see that the prophecy should

of fulfilment.

Cf. p. 69, Note 1.

2

Cf. p. 74, Note 1.

3

Cf. p. 43.

MIRZA GHULAM

AHMAD

17

A

memorable hour in MIrza Ghulam Ahmad's life in December, 1896, when he read a paper at the " Conference of Religions in Lahore, entitled The Sources 1 of Divine Knowledge," which gives an extensive summary of the Ahmadlya interpretation of the Qur'an and the occurred

Islamic theory of salvation. From the year 1892, in addition to several vernacular

English monthly magazine, The Review of was published by the sect in Qadian, whence it still issues. One of the cleverest of Ahmad's followers, Maulvi Muhammad 'All, M.A., LL.B., was called to the editorship of this periodical, and at one time he was assisted by Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn, of whom we shall have more to say further on. 2 This paper was well named, for periodicals, an

Religions,

its attention to a remarkably wide range of and to a great variety of subjects. Orthodox Hinduism, the Arya Samaj, the Brahma Samaj and Theosophy Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism Baha'ism, Christian Science and Christianity have all it

has given

religions

;

;

received attention, as well as Islam in all both ancient and modern, such as the 4

3

its

ramifications, Ahl-i-

Shl'ites,

Sufis and such representative

expon5 Syed Ahmad Khan and Syed Amir 'AH. In another chapter we shall deal with the Ahmadlya attitude toward Christianity. We would only pause here to comment on the alertness and diligence of the group of Ahmadlya leaders who have kept the rank and file of the movement informed of the currents of thought and life in present-day Christianity. The Review of Religions refers, for example, to Mormonism and Zionism, and to Professor George B. Foster's book, The Finality of the Christian Religion (Chicago, 1906), which Hadis,

Kharijites,

ents of

modern tendencies

as

Sir

6

1

Later published, with

the

title,

The Teachings

of Islam,

by

Luzac & Co., London, 1910. 2

Cf. p. 113ff.

" 3 Literally, People of Tradition," a name used in India by the puritanical sect of Wahhabites, and in particular referring to a group of about forty thousand of these Muslim purists in the Panjab. 4 The adherents of this sect of Muslims, neither Sunnis nor Shi'ites, respect the first three Khalifas but reject and abuse 'Ali. • • Cf. p. 65, Note 3. Cf. p. 66, Note 1. 2

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

18

a heresy trial in America to R. J. Theology, and the Keswick movement to the Johannine sect in Russia, the great in England in Wales and the World's Missionary Conrevival ference in Edinburgh in 1910; to the modern critical school of theologians in Germany, to Modernism in the Roman Catholic Church in Italy, and to Christian

him

involved

Campbell's

in

;

New

;

in Palestine, Japan, Iceland, South and other lands. Books by Western students of Islam such as Pfander, Hughes, Margoliouth, Zwemer, Gairdner, Snouck Hurgronje, Noldeke, E. G. Brown and Canon Sell receive due attention. The new Leyden Encyclopedia of Islam is heartily commended. There are frequent quotations from the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Encyclopedia Biblica and the Jewish Encyclopedia, and from such periodicals as The London Quarterly Review, The Contemporary Review, The Review of Reviews, The Westminister Review, The Hibbert Journal, The Biblical World, The East and the West, The Moslem World, and others too numerous to mention, including,

missionary

Africa,

activity

Egypt

of course, all of the important Christian missionary It must be said, however, that the periodicals in India. comments on the scattered quotations show a woful lack of balanced

judgment and

of

any broad and fixed principles

of scholarly criticism.

That Ahmad

most intelligent followers, considerable extent, and possessed at least a superficial knowledge of conditions in the religious world, his own articles and addresses give ample evidence. The pity was, and is, that with his learning and his cleverness in controversy there was not associated an honest and discriminating judgment, a passion for truth stretching beyond the sole confines of the Islam of his conception, and an irenic spirit which could disagree and dispute with others without becoming Because of these weakangrily uncharitable and unfair. nesses he cannot be considered seriously as a scholar in himself, like his

kept abreast of the times to

any

field. It

his

a

is

difficult

writings to

for

one

appraise

who knows Ahmad his

character.

only through

That he was

MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD

19

a man of simple habits and generous impulses all the evidence at our disposal would indicate. His courage in the face of bitter persecution, amounting to attempts at

physical

man

violence,

is

certainly

commendable.

Only

magnetic and pleasing personality could have attracted and held the friendship and loyalty of such numbers of men, of whom two, at least, died for their faith, in Afghanistan, in accordance with orthodox Musalman law. 1 Those older Ahmadis whom I have questioned as to their reasons for joining the movement, have most of them laid greater stress on the personal a

of

made upon them by the Mirza Sahib's forceful and winning personality than on the nature of his peculiar The real puzzle emerges in the case of teachings. impression

Ahmad, as also when we come

of

to

his

judge

great of

his

master, alleged

Muhammad,

revelations, particularly those relating to himself and his claims. shall deal with these in detail in the next chapter. Here we are only interested in them as far as they relate to his

We

Some have believed that one who could make such stupendous claims must have been

character. sincerely

On one occasion an Indian Christian mentally affected. named Daniel, visited Ahmad at Qadian, and left with him seven questions of which the first three, relating to the mental state of Ahmad, were as follows 1. Have you ever been affected with a brain disease ? If so, what and when ? Does its attack recur teacher,

:

1

now < <

? (

Did you begin

to have revelations before you attack of such disease or after that ? any of your relations ever made strange pretentions ?

2.

from

suffered

Have

an

what and when ? Has the idea ever had access to your mind that your claims may be wrong ? If so, how was the doubt removed ? Is it not possible that the doubt may be If so,

"3.

valid?"

The editor of Review of Religions (V, p. 150), it may be assumed with Ahmad's acquiescence, wrote in reply :

1

Review

of Religions, II, p. 405.

See pp. 70, 71.

—

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

20

"

The drift of the first two questions is that the revelations of the promised Messiah are due to dementia in other words, they are [not ?] revelations from God. . . The diseases to which Mr. Daniel alludes were foretold by our Holy Prophet as being the signs of the promised ;

.

Messiah." He then goes on to argue, by a somewhat a tradition had declared forced interpretation, that that the promised Messiah would make his appearance " 1 and that, since clad in garments dyed yellow, there is a consensus of opinion among all interpreters of dreams that yellow garments signify disease," the reference is, of course, to Ahmad's two diseases, "syncope and polyuria." As far as there is any direct answer given here to Mr. Daniel's questions about the presence of mental irregularities in Ahmad, it would seem to be in the affirmative, although, of course, there was no intention on the part of the writer to imply that any physical and mental irregularities of the human medium could be held to have interfered with the validity of the divine revelation. On the contrary, in Muslim eyes it might even strengthen his claims to 2 There seems to be a pre-eminence in spiritual rank. confusion here, however, between Mr. Daniel's allusion to brain disease and the Ahmadiya reference to syncope and polyuria, as being Ahmad's troubles, since actually those diseases do not affect the mind. That he was neither insane nor a conscious imposter, but self-deluded, is the opinion of Dr. H. D. Griswold, of

who was

personally acquainted with Ahmad, and " The Messiah of Qadian," read before paper, on the Victoria Institute of Great Britain, the editor of the " Review of Religions wrote, Excepting occasional remarks, which were necessary to make the paper fit for reading in

Lahore,

of

whose

1

In the resume of Muslim traditions regarding the second coming contained in the Mukaddima of Ibn Khaldun, there is an obscure reference to the expected one descending at Damascus, "between of Christ

may be what Ahmad had in mind. See Ed., Quatremhe, Vol. II, p. 170. For the connection between idiocy and sainthood in Islam, see Macdonald, The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, Chicago, 1909, pp. 103, 104. two yellow robes," which

De

Slane. 2

MIRZA GHULAM

AHMAD

21

meeting, the author has very clearly stated the necessary facts for forming a true idea of the Ahmadiya movement, and has taken immense pains to collect from different places all the arguments bearing on the subject Dr. Griswold, in his and to collate them in order."

a Christian

pamphlet, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Mehdi Messiah of 1 wrote Qadidn, " The opinions on this point concerning him may be summed up under three judgments (1) that he is a conscious deceiver, (2) that he is insane, (3) that he is selfAfter quoting judgments of others in favour of deluded." each of the first two alternatives, Dr. Griswold gives his own opinion as follows " On the whole, however, it seems to me that the third judgment is the safest one, namely, that the Mirza Sahib So far as I am able to judge, is honest but self-deceived. His his writings everywhere have the ring of sincerity. :

—

:

:

persistency in most intense

—

affirming

and

his

claims in

the

face of

the

bitter

opposition is magnificent. He is willing to suffer on behalf of his claims. And besides this, if, in the sober and matter-of-fact West, 2 Dr. Dowie, of Chicago, can claim to be the promised Elijah, we ought not to be surprised if, in the warmer

and more imaginative East, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, has claimed to be the Messiah. To both alike may be granted a measure of pity on the ground that they are probable victims of unconscious self-deception." I am indebted to Professor D. B. Macdonald, of Hartford, U.S.A., for the suggestion here advanced as perhaps best accounting for Ahmad's claims and so-called revelations, viewed in the light of our modern knowledge of psychology. " May not he, like his great leader, be best Let me quote here a pathological case" ? described as a few passages from Professor Macdonald's chapter on "The Person and Life of Muhammad," in his Aspects 3 setting forth this theory of the nature of of Islam, 1

Published

2

Cf. p. 45, Note 1.

:'

Macmillan,

at

Ludhiana, Panjab,

New

York,

p. 63ff.

in

1902.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

22

Muhammad's

inspiration:

— "As

I

have said

before, the

him was that he was a pathological It is evident that from comparatively early days he case. had trances fell into fits in which he saw and heard There came to him voices, either things. strange apparently in a trance condition or when he was awake. Driven by fear for his soul, he had got into the habit of fundamental thing

in

;

recesses, and there spending days in So there the voices came to him there and the fear fell upon he even saw figures vague, dim What is the matter with me ? Is him, What are they ?

retiring into

desert

of

this

God

Or am

?

Again he was not, a

a

politician,

—

—

solitary prayer.

as

I

so

man who

;

possessed by

some

spirit

many have thought, set

out

to

unite

?

.

.

.

a

schemer, Arabia and

become its head, and who at every move knew exactly what he was doing and why he did it. He was not a he was very often the most impolitic schemer to

;

men.

So, then, I take it that the essential and characteristic elements in the prophetship, in the creed, in the personality, in the philosophy of Muhammad all lead us back to something unhealthy, ununified; but to something also in its earlier phases, and through the of

.

.

.

greater part of its life and absolutely, entirely real."

growth, absolutely sincere

—

That Ahmad also was to some extent sincere in his belief that his revelations (particularly the earlier ones which defined his unique office) came from some source that was external to his own mind all the evidence at our disposal would lead us to believe. His revelations for the most part came

1

A

few of the ejaculatory Arabic sentences. early ones, however, came in English, a language which Ahmad professed not to speak. instances of these English revelations, given by Mirza Yakub Beg, are the " I shall help you You have to go Amritsar "; following He halts in the Zilla (township) Peshawar." It will be noticed that the English is imperfect. That he later, like Muhammad (according to Professor in brief,

Two

:

—

:

'

Macdonald's theory) and many modern mediums, produced 1

See the translations of several of these revelations on p. 33.

MlRZA GHULAM

AHMAD

23

revelations that had been deliberately forged, in the interests (in his case) of a growing ambition and an ill-disguised cupidity, a mass of reliable evidence compels alleged

us to believe. All that we know of Ahmad's early years reveals in him the nervous, abstracted manner of the typical medium. As the revelations began to come whether through automatic writing, or in a trance, or through some other he was, let us say, profoundmeans, we can only surmise

—

—

and easily convinced having proceeded from a supernatural source. Thereupon he became, in his own eyes and in those of his followers, the "next step" in the divine scheme of progressive revelation, and possibly the inevitable centre of

ly

of

moved by

their mysterious nature

their

a proselytizing cult.

We can

find

many

suggestive parallels of this mental and

such modern mediums spiritual progression in the history of and Rev. Stainton Moses, of a generation as D. D. T. Stead and Elsa Barker in the and the late

Home

ago, past few years.

W.

it seems to be an easy, and indeed almost inevitable, thing for the controlling intelli" 1 " gence, whether it be Jibrail" (Gabriel) or Imperator," 3 2 "Julia" or "X," to convince the medium that the source of the communications is wholly external to the personality of the "sensitive," and that the medium has been chosen 4 to be the vehicle of a divinely inspired revelation. The last ten years of Ahmad's life were increasingly shadowed by physical weakness and characterised by waning aggressiveness, as he realised that he was drawing near

1

Cf.

London 2

In such cases

M. A. Oxon

(Rev.

W.

Stainton Moses): Spirit Teachings,

Spiritualist Alliance, 1894.

Cf.

W.

T.

Stead:

"After Death— A Personal Narrative,"

of Reviews, London, 1912. 3 Cf. Elsa Barker: Letters from Rider & Sons, London, 1914.

Review

a

Living

* A later example of this tendency is seen Lodge's Raymond, which Sir Arthur Conan

new

revelation of

Dead Man.

in the case of

Wm.

Sir Oliver

Doyle has called

"A

God's dealing with man." See Appendix I for recent article in Review of Religions, in which

quotations from a further unconscious evidences are given of the mediumistic character of

Ahmad's

revelation.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

24

"

1

In December, 1905, he published his Will," which he wrote, "As Almighty God has informed me,

to the end. in

following one another, that the time near, and the revelations in that respect have and so consecutive that they have shaken my

in various revelations

my

of

death

is

been so many

existence from indifferent to I

should

the foundations and

me,

write

I

made

have, therefore, thought

down

this life quite it

proper that

my friends, and for such other from my teachings, some words of

for

persons as can benefit advice." As will appear in Chapter VI, the content of this " " Will was destined to prove a source of controversy and division in the Ahmadlya community in years to come. A few days before his death he wrote a paper called "The Message of Peace," 2 which he intended should be read in his presence at a religious conference in University Hall, Lahore, in May, 1908. While, even here, he could not refrain from repeating some of his customary carping criticism of Christianity and Hinduism, he nevertheless comes nearer than he had probably ever done before to exemplifying the principle which in this paper he lays down "That religion does not deserve the name of religion which does not inculcate broad sympathy with humanity in general, nor does that person deserve to be called a human being who has not a sympathetic soul within him." His death, caused by intestinal trouble, occurred very suddenly, on May 26th, 1908, in Lahore, whither he had come to attend the conference above mentioned, and to secure some medical assistance for his wife. His enemies made much of the fact that, with all his boasted prophetic knowledge, he should not have foreseen the date of his own death, which, had it accorded with his wishes and plans, would certainly have occurred in Qadian, and at a later period. "The Message of Peace" was read at the conference by Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn, just after the Ahmad was buried in an unpretentious author's death. tomb in Qadian, which had been previously prepared. :

1

Obtainable in pamphlet form from the Qadian headquarters. This can be obtained from Ahmadlya headquarters at Qadian. appeared in the Review of Religions for July, 1908 (VII, p. 7). 2

It

Cf. pp. 50, 51.

CHAPTER

II

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD THE PROMISED MESSIAH

I.

The Sunnite Muslim believes that among the signs of the approach of the last day will be the simultaneous appearance of the promised Messiah and the expected Mahdi, generally taken to be two quite distinct person1 alities with different offices to perform. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to fulfil in himself various Muslim prophecies pertaining both to the Messiah and the Mahdi, and, in addition, to be the fulfilment of Christian and Jewish eschatological hopes. First, with regard to Jewish prophecy,

in

a

paper published in 1904 (cf. Review of " 331), called My Claim to Promised

Religions, III, p.

Messiahship,"

Ahmad wrote

:

" Since God created man, it has been his unchangeable law that he sheds his light upon mankind through one of their own number, a unity and oneness among them. ... In accortime-honoured law, Almighty God prophesied by the mouth of his prophets that after nearly six thousand years from the time of Adam, when great darkness would pursue upon earth and an irresistible flood of passions would make the love of God wane and

so that there

maybe

dance with

this

iniquity predominate, he would breathe into a man the soul of truth and love and knowledge spiritually after the likeness of Adam, and he would be called the Messiah, because God would himself anoint his After a heavy fight the soul with the ointment of his love. Messiah of God would drive back the powers of darkness, and the and holiness of God would be proclaimed upon glory, majesty, unity earth and would continue to be so declared for a thousand years, the .

.

.

1 Perhaps the most satisfactory summary in English of the generally recognized signs of the Muslim millennial period preceding the day of resurrection is that contained in Sale Preliminary Discourse :

to the

referred.

use.

IV, pp. 56-59, to which the reader is mention here only those prophecies of which Ahmad makes

Koran, Ed. 1877, I

Sect.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

26

seventh day of the Holy Books of God. Messiah let him who will accept

that

:

Then

will be the end.

I

am

me."

We

thus see that the promised Messiah is, for Jews, Christians and Muhammadans the second Adam as well The reference to Adam is of as the promised Messiah. importance, on account of the Muslim designation of Jesus as "the second Adam," because he was declared by Muhammad to have been an immediate creation like the 1 In the first number of the Review of Relifirst Adam. gions (I, p. 15) this parallelism is further developed " The thousand years of Satan's supremacy (following the thousand years of his imprisonment after the coming of Jesus) have come to an end, and we are now living in the millenium of God's reign, and the :

of it has already appeared. The sixth thousand from the appearance of Adam has come to a close, and the seventh, in which the second Adam should have appeared, has begun. God made Adam on the sixth day, and the sacred Scriptures further bear testimony to the fact that a day is equal to a thousand years with the Lord.

dawn

The promises of God, therefore, make it absolutely necessary that the second Adam must have been born already, though not recognized as yet by the world. cannot further avoid the conclusion that the place fixed by God for the appearance of the second Adam must be in the East and not in the West, for from Genesis 2 8, we learn that God had put the first Adam in a garden eastward. It is, therefore, necessary that the second Adam should appear in the East, in order to have a resemblance with the first in respect of his locality. This conclusion is equally binding upon the Christians and the Muhammadans if they admit the authority of their Scriptures and are not of an atheistic turn of mind." '

'

We

:

The thousand-year imprisonment of Satan after Jesus' second coming is taken from Revelation 20: 1-10. There In is nothing corresponding to it in Muslim eschatology. another passage Ahmad writes :

" Moreover born a

Adam

was born on Friday, and along with him was So it happened in my case, viz., I, too, was born on

woman.

Friday and was born a twin, a girl being born with 1

2

me."

2 :

Cf. Qur'an, 111,52.

According

to

Muslim

writers

Adam

was born

of the sixth day, and Eve in the sixth hour. in The Jezvish Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 178.

"

a distant echo of the legend of Lilith," who binical writings as the first wife of Adam.

Jezvish Encyclopedia, VIII, p. 87.

in

the third hour

See article, " Adam This may possibly be figures in Jewish rabSee article "Lilith," '

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

27

Adam is included in the method of which Ahmad claimed to fulfil the Jewish The argument in this connection Messianic prophecies. is well summarized by Dr. Griswold, who heard it from Ahmad's own lips at Qadian Moses

as well as

parallelism by

:

" There

two tribes of fundamental importance in Divine reveThe great lation, the Children of Israel and the Children of Ishmael. Christ was the final prophets of the former were Moses and Christ. prophet of the Jews, the last brick in their national and religious Their rejection of Christ involved their own rejection and structure. are

Then came

the loss of their nationality.

the turn of the children of

' was raised According to Deuteronomy 18" 18, a prophet " of the brethren "like unto" Moses, from among the Israelites, in the person of the great lawgiver Muhammad' (Review of Religions, May, 1902, p. 206). Muhammad, therefore, was the first Ishmaelitish But Moses and Christ were prophet, as it were, the Moses of Islam. Hence, in separated by an interval of twelve or fourteen centuries. order to preserve the parallelism, another prophet must arise twelve or '

Ishmael,

fourteen

:

centuries

The

Muhammad, who will be, as it were, the this be but Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian? these great prophets may be set forth in the form

after

Who can

Christ of Islam.

relation between

as Moses is to Christ, so Muhammad is to or again, as Muhammad is to Moses, so the Mirza Sahib is to Jesus Christ. In a word, as Moses is a type of Muham2 mad, so Jesus of Nazareth is a type of Ahmad of Qadian."

Thus,

of a proportion.

Ghulam Ahmad

;

The words

3

"Who

has raised the righteous one in the East," are likewise quoted in the Review of Religions as an instance of Old Testament proof Isaiah

phecy which was

41:

fulfilled in

2,

Ahmad.

Coming now

New

the

to the Christian prophecies, contained in Testament, Ahmad held that the second coming

universally held by Muslims to be a reference Most Christian claimed descent from Ishmael. commentators on Deuteronomy agree with Driver, in The International " " The reference here Critical Commentary, Deuteronomy," p. 227: 1

to

This prophecy

is

Muhammad, who

prophetship) not to a particular passages which Muslims Isaiah 21 2 6; the Deuteronomy 33 apply to Muhammad are 1 John 4 7 1-3, and 21; John 16 parable in Matthew 20 John 4

is

a

to

permanent

individual

institution

(of

Other

prophet."

,

Scriptural

:

:

;

:

;

:

:

:

;

For the best study of this subject, see article by Goldziher J.O.S., Vol. XLII, pp. 591ff. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Mehdi Messiah of Qadian, p. 21. 3 O. C. The reference is to Cyrus, according to G. A. Smith, " Isaiah," Whitehouse, and other Old Testament commentators. See

many more.

in the Zeitshrift of the 2

in

The Century Bible, Vol.

II, p.

65.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

28

Messiah was not to be in Christ's own person, but in Even so, Jesus declared that power." " " John had come in the spirit and power of Elijah (Review of Religious, II, p. 192), when the Jews urged that Jesus could not be the Messiah because the prophecy of Malachi 4 5, was still unfulfilled, that Elijah must come again previous to the Messiah's appearance (Matt. 17: 12; cf. Luke 2: 17). Elijah and Jesus, he held, were the two characters of whom it was said in the Bible that they were taken up alive into heaven. Hence their return to In earth would presumptively be the same in its nature. spite of the contradictions involved, it was necessary for Ahmad's purpose that he also teach that Muslims are in error in believing that Jesus was taken alive into one of the heavens from whence he will return before the last day, just as Christians err, no less, in their belief that Jesus died on the cross and after his resurrection in three days ascended to heaven, there to remain until his second Ahmad held it to be of supreme importance appearance. of the

"spirit and

his

:

have died like an ordinary appearance in his actual physical body previous to the general resurrection impossible, thus to his claims that Jesus should 1

man, so

making spirit

to

as to

make

possible

his

accompany

own (Ahmad's) coming

in

Jesus'

We

read that the signs which ought the return of the Messiah have all been

and power.

fulfilled

his

:

"Earthquakes, plague, famine, wars, and terrestrial as well as heavenly phenomena, bear witness to the one fact that there is to be no more waiting for the Messiah's advent" {Review of Religions, III, p. 397).

Christians themselves, he declared, recognize that the is at hand, but, like the Jews of the time of Jesus, they are looking in the wrong direction for his appearance. The Millennial Dawn books of the late " Pastor " Russell, in America, are quoted to prove that the six thousandth year after Adam, at the end of which the Messiah must come, ended in 1873, and that by 1914 the saints were to

time

Ahmad's in

Chapter IV,

theory regarding Jesus' death and p. 89ff.

burial

is

set

forth

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

29

be gathered and the Kingdom was to be firmly established 1 and recognized by all. Other Christian writers, he asserts, have placed the time but all have been of the advent in 1898, 1899 and 1900 disappointed because they failed to realize that in MIrza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian the Messiah has actually ;

appeared (Review of Religions,

We

come now

to

II, p.

366).

Muslim prophecies

the

of Jesus'

The only reference to this in the Qur'an return to earth. 2 which some commentais the dubious one in XLIII, 61, tors take to refer rather to the Qur'an itself. Nevertheless, we are told in the Review of Religions (II, p. 369): " The Qur'an has wisely fixed certain signs for the advent of the Messiah, so that all men might know from their fulfilment that the time Of these the most important sign is the predominance of the is come. Christian religion and the activity of the Christian nations in every department of life. Of this predominance and activity there is not the least doubt." unfortunately, does not inform us where in the prophecy is to be found, but he (or his editor) asks pertinently in the same paragraph

Ahmad,

Qur'an

this

:

not needed now, will he be needed when the whole world is led to believe in the false doctrine of which the Holy 'The heavens might almost be rent thereat and the Qur'an has said 8 earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall in pieces'?" '

If

the Messiah

is

:

A favourite argument from the Qur'an is based upon the well-known verse (LXI, 6), which reads " And (remember) when Jesus, the Son of Mary, said, O Children of Israel; of a truth I am God's Apostle to you to confirm the law :

which was given before me, and to announce an Apostle that after me, whose name shall be Ahmad."

shall

come

See Studies in the Scriptures (in earlier editions, The Millennial " The Time is at Series 2, Hand," Studies 2 and 4, pp. 33ff. Published by the International Bible Students' Association, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1916. a "And he (it) shall be a sign of the last hour; doubt not then of it, and follow ye me: this is the right way"( Rodwell's translation, p. 139). a The preceding verse gives the "false Qur'an XIX, 92. " as follows: " The God of Mercy hath begotten doctrine They say Now have ye done a monstrous thing" (Rodwell's offspring.' Muhammad interpreted in a carnal 9en»e the translation, p. 123). Christian doctrine that Je9iis is the Son of God. 1

Dawn),

—

'

:

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

30

As there is no such saying of Jesus in the New Testament, orthodox Islam has followed the suggestion of Ed. 1877, Maracci, adopted by Sale {Preliminary Discourse. " Sect. IV, p. 53), that the references to the John 14 26 and 16 7, were believed by

in

:

:

to point to himself, the original

Paraclete,"

Muhammad

Greek word having been, Periklutos, which is

case, not Parakletos but the Arabic word, equivalent to this

in

The root.

Ahmad ("praised"). Muhammad," comes of course from the same Mirza Ghulam Ahmad takes the prediction, in both "

word,

the Gospel and the Qur'an, to refer not to Muhammad but he bears the name "Ahmad' to himself, because (Review of Religions, I, p. 266), although, as Dr. "Griswold Servant has pointed out, his entire name really signifies " of

Ahmad

(Ghulam Ahmad).

A

further sign of the last days, which we are frequently told is referred to in the Qur'an and given in detail in a tradition, is that an eclipse of the sun and moon will then occur, respectively, on the 13th and 28th of the month of Ramadan. 1 This occurred in 1894. Although the earliest collections of traditions contain few references to the day, later Muhammadan literature abounds in traditions that give the signs supposed to precede and accom2 pany the end. Among the many to which Ahmad refers at different times are the corruption of the Muhammadan priests, the neglect of the Qur'an, and the splitting of last

Ahmad

quotes frequently the well-known Hurairah, that the Son of Mary when he descends shall break in pieces the cross and shall slay 3 Ahmad declared that it was evident that he the swine. had fulfilled this prophecy by exposing finally the falsity of the Christian doctrine of salvation through the cross of Christ, and by the destructive curses he pronounced upon his various enemies, who, he declared, represent the Islam into sects. tradition of

1

The

Abu

tradition

is

Baghawl, Cairo, Vol. 2

included in the Masdbih as sunna It is not in the Qur'an. 147.

of

Al

II, p.

Sale {Preliminary Discourse, Sect. IV, p. 56ff) gives many found in the various traditions, together with their sources. For reference to this tradition, see De Slane's edition of the Mukaddima of Ibn Khaldun, Ed. Quatremere, Vol. II, p. 163. of the signs 8

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD swine referred to

in

the prophecy.

Among

31

other prophetic

signs pointing to the present as the time for the Messiah's descent, it is said that the promised Messiah is to fight with the anti-Christ (Dajjal), who will come riding on an ass

will

which moves like a cloud driven by the wind. He have but one eye, and with him will be all the

treasures of the world. This, we learn, refers to the of the English to India, particularly the missionaries the ass being the railways and the cloud the steam

coming

—

from the engines. Since the English have an eye for the things of this world only, and are blind in the eye of and certainly religion, they may be considered as one-eyed The rising of the sun in they are exceedingly rich the west, another prophecy, likewise refers to the coming of the English, resplendent in worldly glory. And the ;

!

to in

Gog and Magog

of

strife

(Yajuj

and Majuj), referred XXI, 96) and 20: 8), whose

the Qur'an (XVIII, 93, 97 and the Bible (Ezek. 39: 1, 6, and Rev. in

'

appearance Russia. "

combat is to be a sign the war between England and read

in history in terrific

of the last days," refers to

In one place

we

:

other signs related in the Holy Qur'iin and authentic traditions are the appearance of the plague which is at present (1903) devastating India and several other countries, the introduction of a new mode of conveyance in place of camels, etc., which has been fulfilled by the construction of railways throughout the world, the increase of knowledge, the mixing together of people living in distant lands, the multiplicity of canals, the spreading of papers, and a host of other signs which we cannot detail here" (Review of Religions,

Among

II, p.

369).

The above are but a few of the prophecies which Ahmad declared were fulfilled in himself. Whenever he on this subject some orthodox maulvi was ready with a new prophecy, buried in some obscure tradition and, in due time, Ahmad was prepared to reveal how this prophecy, rightly understood, could refer only to discoursed :

nimself.

Thus far we have been dealing with the prophecies of the promised Messiah's coming. Another alleged proof of Ahmad's Messiahship was the fact that revelation early identified him with Jesus the Jesus of the Christian

—

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

32

ReGospels, mentioned as 'ha so often in the Qur'an. ferring to Surat-al-T ahr'xm, Ahmad wrote: " It is plainly indicated that some one from among the Muslims will first acquire the characteristics of Mary on account of his perfect righteousness, and be called by that name, and then the spirit of Jesus being breathed into him, he will be called by the latter name. In accordance with those words of the Holy Qur'an, Almighty God first named me Mary, and then spoke of the breathing into me of a soul,

and

lastly

he

"

named me

Jesus

(Review

of Religions, II, p. 421 ).*

In the course of the revelations recorded in the pages of the Bardhin-i-Ahmadiya, one occurred in which Ahmad was thus addressed " O Mary, enter with thy companions into paradise, I have breathed into thee from myself the spirit of truth " (Review of Religions, :

III, p.

340).

The

resemblance

referred to,

is

obvious.

to

the

This

verse of spirit,

the

Qur'an,

just

Ahmad

declared,

was

the spirit of Jesus, as indicated to him by a revelation, occurring two years later, applying to himself the verse of the Qur'an " O I will cause thee to die a natural and will :

death,

Jesus, verily

take thee up to myself, and I will place those those who believe not in thee, until the day of 2 of Religions, III, p. 341 ).

who

follow thee above Resurrection" (Review

At the time Ahmad supposed that these revelations referred to the ordinary Muslim belief regarding the second advent of Jesus, and it was not until some years after that it was further revealed to him, as above narrated. " My name is Jesus, Son of Mary, for my capacity of Jesus is an my capacity as Mary." Ahmad's challenge to

offspring of

In issued

to

Messiah," 1

We

a

prayer-duel to the death,

John Alexander Dowie, the American in 1892, the revelations seem to have gone

Dr. 3

find no such reference in Surat -al-Tahrini

,

but

we suppose

must have had in mind the last verse (LXVI, 12): "And Mary, the daughter of Imran, who kept her maidenhood, and into whose womb we breathed of our spirit, and who believed in the words " Rodwell's of her Lord and his scriptures, and was one of the devout (

Ahmad

translation, p. 465) 3 Qur'an III, 48. .

s

Cf. p. 45, Note 1.

THE DISTINXTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

33

the length of convincing Ahmad not only of his likeness, After describing but further of his superiority, to Jesus. how on various occasions he has seen Jesus and eaten with him from the same dish, he proceeds :

"There greater and

promises of

Divine wisdom

no doubt that

is

has

entrusted

a

far

more important work to my charge, and has given me a far greater kindness and grace, yet spiritually Jesus and

It is for this reason that my advent is his advent. He saw me and was pleased, denies Jesus also. is not of us, and, therefore, he who sees me and is not pleased with me neither of me nor of Jesus. Jesus is from me and I am from God blessed is he who recognizes me, and undone is the person from whose

I

one in essence.

are

He who

me

denies

;

eyes

I

am hidden."

And

again he writes distinctly

"The

:

Mary has not the slightest superiority over other to him. point to men who have been far superior And in this age, the writer of these pages has been sent to convince a greater grace and favour in the sight of God people that he enjoys " than Jesus Christ {Review of Religions, I, p. 340).

men;

nay,

Son

of

we can

And

yet again " Ye Christian missionaries say no more that Christ is your God, for there is one among you who is greater than Christ" (Review of Religions, I, p. 251). :

:

Detailed

an

article

in

evidences of his superiority are given in the Review of Religions for May, 1902

206): wonder what peculiarities there are in the Son make him a God. Do these consist in his miracles? (I,

p.

"

Mary which But mine are Were his prophecies very clear and true? But I greater than his. shall be guilty of concealing a truth if I do not assert that the prome are of a far better quality phecies which Almighty God has granted in clearness, force and truth, than the ambiguous predictions of Jesus. Can we conclude his divinity from the words used of him in the that the words expressing But I swear by the Lord Gospels? my dignity revealed from God ... are far more weighty and to Jesus. But, glorious than the words of the Gospels relating I

.

notwithstanding Sonship of God. of

Muhammad,

this

all .

as

.

.

Jesus

.

of

.

superiority, I cannot assert superiority lies in being was the Messiah of Moses,

My

Divinity the the

or

Messiah Israelite

Law-giver."

as

Later than this a revelation came to Ahmad, in Arabic on most occasions, of which a literal translation would 3

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

34

"

Thou art from me and art to me as a Son. " I from thee (Review of Religions, I, p. 349). A further evidence of Ahmad's superiority to Jesus lay, he declared, in the fact that he was saved by the grace of Muhammad from the possibility of such an ignominious death as Jesus suffered at the hands of his enemies. In addition to pointing to the agreement of past probe

:

Thou

1

phecy and present revelation in declaring his indentity with or superiority to Jesus, Ahmad boasted a similarity to his personal Christ in his external situation and in Like Jesus, Ahmad was destined first to suffer character. persecution at the hands of unbelievers. " The world

shall not recognize him before his glorious advent Nor shall the world love him; for he comes not of the world. from the God whom the world does not love. It is, therefore, neceswith all manner sary that he should be abused, persecuted and charged " of crime (Review of Religions, I, p. 17).

for he

;

is

As the enemies of Jesus were the supposedly religious and orthodox Scribes and Pharisees, so to-day the professedly religious people and their leaders are, because of their sins, most sharply antagonistic to the spirit and In Christendom, he declared, claims of the Messiah. drunkenness, prostitution and gambling were rampant, and the clergy and missionaries set the example. Reference is made, in the Review of Religions for May, 1906 (V, p. 215), to a book to which I have no access, called Crimes of Preachers, which, says the editor, has a brief record of some of the crimes with which clergy of the United States and Canada have been charged in" courts. love of There is no unnameable crime from which the Christ" has saved the holy men, adultery and seduction heading the list. Intelligent and unbiassed Muslims, as well as Christians, must exclaim at the studied unfairness of such a representation of Christianity and its leaders in the East and West. 1 This revelation is of special interest in view of Muhammad's to the inability to conceive of such a spiritual sonship as that of Jesus

Ahmad here seems to declare Father from the Christian viewpoint. himself boldly a son of God, although he elsewhere echoes the common Muslim deprecation of the term as applied to Jesus.

is

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

35

But neither does Islam come through unscathed.

It

condemned by Ahmad

ceremonialism,

for its sectarianism,

We

are hard-heartedness and superstitious saint-worship. " Muhammadan degeneration has passed all that Luxurious habits, transgressions, drunkenness, bounds. the upper hand gambling and laziness have gained 318). I, p. (Review of Religions, And this decadence is due to, and most extensively The blame of found among, the maulvis themselves. of Islamic depriving a whole world of the recognition at the door of the maulvis," because lies truths and their they have "fabricated poisonous traditions" own lives are corrupt. Even so, "at the time of Jesus' told

'

'

advent, the Jewish priests and religious leaders were morally in a very degraded condition, and though the of virtue was on their lips yet their hearts were quite devoid of it." If the moral conditions of the Christian and Muhammadan world to-day are similar to those In Jewish society when Jesus came, so also are political conditions among Muslims to-day similar to those of the Jews of the first The Jews were a subject people, under the yoke century. " Muhammadanism has ceased to be of Rome, and to-day the ruling power in the country where the Promised Messiah has been raised, and English rule has been estabAnd as Jesus did not seek to foster lished in its stead."

word

revolution among the Jews, but remained loyal so was the MIrza Sahib, like his forbears, a Moreover, as Jesus was a loyal subject of the British Raj. dragged before a Roman tribunal, so has Ahmad been hailed before the English courts on several occasions, and as Jesus was declared innocent by Pilate, so, Ahmad dethe British clares, he also was discharged as innocent by official who presided when one of his famous cases was a spirit of

to

Rome,

tried.

Most important

of

all,

Ahmad seems

to

have held, was

the resemblance between himself and Jesus in character In sketching this analogy he considers Jesus and office. favourable in the light and with the mature moral only In a him. personality in which the Gospels present

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

36 1

we shall find him portraying a different and strangely inconsistent picture of Jesus, giving to him a character with which Ahmad would hardly desire to associate himself in the popular mind. He declares that in his single personality the spirituality of both Muhammad and Jesus "pervades his whole being, and, as it were, supplies the fuel which keeps up the heat of his spiritual life." He has inherited the "untold perfections of the Holy Prophet " and likewise "the perfection of Jesus Christ. 2 And as the personality of the Promised Messiah was quite blended with these two personalities, and was wholly lost in them, therefore the names of these two chosen ones of God predominated over his own name, and in heaven the names of these two great ones were appropriated for him." {Review of Religions, II, p. 67) later chapter

.

As with

Jesus, so with

Ahmad, between

ing to persecution and his second advent innocence will be established upon earth " When the man has all :

—

his first

in

com-

glory,

his

these stages and perfect passed through undergone all these trials, when his magnanimity, constancy, patience and determination shine forth in their full glory and his innocence is established with conclusive arguments, then is the time of his advent in glory, and the time of his first advent, which was a time of trials and persecutions, comes to an end " (Review of Religions, I, p. 16).

Like Jesus he was an intercessor 3 between God and man, and, as such, necessarily, a manifestation at once of the Divine Being and of a perfected humanity. He declared himself to be 1

Cf. P 81ff. the sinlessness of Jesus and .

On

Muhammad see p. 81, Note 1. Obviously Ahmad's conception of intercession is not that of orthodox Islam, which for the most part holds that only Muhammad will be the intercessor at the last day. According to a well-known tradition from Anas, the Prophet said that Jesus will be unable to intercede on the day of resurrection, not (as in the case of other because he has sinned, but because his followers prophets) The Qur'an admits of no intercession, worshipped him as a God. strictly speaking, although some commentators have held that Qur'an XCVII, 40, admits the intercession of Jesus. Many traditions affirm the intercession of Muhammad. For a discussion of this subject see The Faith of Islam', by E. Sell (S.P.C.K., Madras, 1907, third See also p. 121, Note 1. edition), p. 263ff. Ahmad probably has in mind here the references to the intercession of Jesus given in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 7 25. 2

3

:

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD " The of the

rejected

real intercessor of

great

by the blind men

mankind, because

who was born

intercessor

of his

I

thirteen

am

the perfect image centuries ago and

" time (Review of Religions

In various passages he refers to himself, or " " 1 to,

as

Son

37

,

is

I,

p.

251).

referred

"

Sun of Righteousness," an God," by God," an image of God whom imperfect

of

angel inspired human beings must imitate in order to be regenerated (Review of Religions,!, p. 393), "the living model whose example all must imitate," "an infallible guide," "no " mere mortal," Saviour from the bondage of sin," " Mediator between God and man," the spiritual leader of this age (Imam-nz-Zaman) the Hakam, or divinely ,

appointed

affairs within and religious "looking-glass for the divine image"

arbitrator

without Islam,

a

in

" His (appropriating the familiar figure of the Sufis) and holiness." It has already become evident from quotations given " that Ahmad considered that he had come in the spirit and power" not only of Jesus, but in some sense of Muhammad also. He called himself the buruz, or mani" the living representation upon earth of the festation,

Arabian Prophet." " The wise and knowing God

has raised Mirz'i

Ghulam Ahmad

Qadian with the same spirit and power, the same blessings and favours, and the same miracles, with which he raised the Holy Prophet (Review of Religions, I, p. 333).

of

'

'

There is here an indication, which his extravagant claims enforce, that he was greater even than Muhammad, for after asserting that his powers and resources are like Muhammad's in kind, he declares that in Ahmad's time even greater evils and corruption had appeared in the world," which would seem to imply that Ahmad's necessary manifestation of power must have exceeded Muhammad's. '

II.

THE EXPECTED MAHDI

The confusing multiplicity and diversity of Muslim " The traditions relating to the signs of the approach of " characterise particularly the references to the Day 1

Cf. p. 34, Note 1.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

38

Mahdi (literally, "guided one"). It is clear that he is a descendant of the Prophet, and the last of the Imams (the successors of the Prophet) who, according to Sunnite Muslims, is to come upon earth at the last day, and in victorious warfare make Islam to prevail throughout the world. Thus far the traditions are agreed, but from that Some would have the rule of point onward they diverge.

—

Mahdi overthrown by Dajjdl (anti-Christ), in order that Dajjdl in turn may be destroyed by 'Isa, whose expected return to earth has crept into Islam from Christian eschaThere has, however, been a persistent tradition in tology. the

Muslim eschatological except Jesus."

1

This

literature that

tradition

"

there

is

no Mahdi

Ahmad

accepted as against all others contradicting it. Moreover, the usual Muslim " man of blood," idea of the Mahdi is that he will be a Islam forth on its last leading great jihad (holy war), a character which has been sustained by most other modern This conception would have claimants to Mahdiship. been a most inconvenient (though not an impossible) one for Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to have held, with his boasted peaceableness and friendliness to British rule in India, and we find him repudiating it vigorously, and, along with it, the customary view of jihad, which, he held, had reference to spiritual rather than to physical warfare. follows " The

2

Ahmad summed up

his

position

as

:

combination

spiritual personality of the Messiah and the Mahdi is a of the of the Holy Prophet spiritual personalities

Muhammad 1

To

and Jesus."

be found in

De

Slane, Ed. Quatremere,

Mukaddima

of

Ibn

Khaldun, Vol. II, p. 163, and also quoted by De Massignon in his edition of Kitab al Taivasin, by Al-Hallaj, Paris, 1913, p. 161, Note Snouck Hurgronje, in Mohammedanism, New York, 1916, p. 108, 2. speaks of the use of this tradition in Turkish official classes to-day, to prove that the true Mahdi must descend from the clouds, thus tending to discredit all pseudo-Mahdis arising from human society. 2 This question of jihad will be considered further in Chapter III (p. 71ff), as it is a fundamental point in the differentiation of the from orthodox Islam. It is discussed at length by B.A., one of Ahmad's followers, in Review of 377-404. Religions, VII, pp. 174-185, 193, 221, 291-320, 337-371,

Ahmadiya

sect

Maulvi Sher

'All,

.THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF

And "

again

AHMAD

39

:

To

believe in me as the Promised Messiah disbelieve in the popular doctrine of jihad.'

and Mahdi

is

to

1

It is hardly worth while quoting at length the various arguments by which Ahmad sought to prove from the traditions that he was the expected Mahdi as well as the His main point was that the traditions promised Messiah. are hopelessly contradictory, and that the only possible criterion by which the true traditions can be distinguished from the false would be the actual appearance of the Mahdi, fulfilling certain of the prophecies and thus stamping them as true. In one line of argument, to establish the identity of Messiah and Mahdi, he asserted

word

"

Mahdi

"

may be taken not as a proper name but as a descriptive title, and since the offices of the Messiah and Mahdi are constantly confused or blended, and since the signs attending the advent of each are not distinguishable, it follows that Mahdi is only a title of the promised Messiah, and that therefore any traditions regarding the Mahdi which cannot be adjusted to apply to the now apparent promised Messiah, MIrza Ghulam Ahmad, must, ipso facto, be false. have now seen that Ahmad believed that he fulfilled the prophecies relating to the promised Messiah and the expected Mahdi, and that his personal character There remained a further test from validated his claim. which he did not shrink, and he confessed that it was the that since in

many

traditions the

We

This criterion of prophethood and Messiahship. was the presence of those outward signs for which the Scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus, and for which the

final

asked Muhammad. Muhammad, according to the later traditions accepted by Ahmad, and in contradic2 tion of the obvious teaching of the Qur'an, responded by 1

Qureish

showing the

requisite signs.

ruling family of Mecca, to which Muhammad belonged. For miracles later ascribed to Muhammad Cf. Qur'an, VI, 109. see Two Hundred and Fifty-two Authentic Miracles of Muhammad, 1

The

2

by Maulvl Muhammad Inayat Ahmad, Mohammedan Tract and Book Depot, Lahore, 1894, mentioned in Zwemer, The Moslem Christ, Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, Edinburgh, 1912, p. 164, Note 1.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

40

"What

was

happened

it

in

the

sandy

The dead were raised to life in thousands, the dumb were made to utter words of of

depraved

generations

long

were

of

Arabia?

made

to see,

heavenly wisdom, and the

clothed

in

divine

morals"

of Religions, III, p. 46).

{Review

And

again " As regards our Holy Prophet, there

words

deserts

the blind were

:

are about a million of his of his light and divine

which we witness clear manifestations

in

glory."

The honest

promised Messiah, likewise, never disappointed the seeker after a sign, but, as he monotonously " than one hundred and

has shown more reiterated, supernatural signs, to which evidence

fifty

borne by millions of men, and anyone who demands a sign even now in earnest is not disappointed" (Review of Religions, I, p. 368).

A

method

favourite

is

of attracting attention

was

to offer

any seeker who should come to Qadian We and go away not satisfied with having seen a sign. have never heard of any money having been paid over, although we have reason to believe, from the nature and continuance of the opposition to Ahmad, much of it in the immediate environs of Qadian, that some who came were On the other hand, not, or would not be, satisfied. a

sum

sums

money

of

to

money were on

of

by his enemies

Messiah, and

if

several occasions offered publicly prove himself to be the course, he could not do to their

Ahmad would

this, of

prominent member Ahl-i-Qur'an sect of 1 Muslims in the Panjab, offered Rs. 25,000 if the MIrza Sahib would prove in debate that he was the promised As far as I can learn, the offer was not accepted. Messiah. The nature of Ahmad's signs varied. As the miracle 2 par excellence of Islam is the Qur'an, and the Arabic poetry

On one occasion a Muhammad Chittu) of the

satisfaction.

(Shaikh

1

A

founded

sect

one time

a

in

the inspired and rejected

Muhammad.

1902 by one, Abdulla Chakralvi, who was at He taught that of Qadian. the true Rasul (Messenger)

Hakim Nur-ud-Din Qur'an, not Muhammad, is

pupil of

the traditions relating to the life of many other important matters from In the 1911 Census Report 271 persons were entered

the hails with

The

orthodox Islam.

all

sect differs in

as followers of this sect. 2

Cf.

Qur'an X, 38, 39; IV, 84,

etc.

•THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF

AHMAD

41

contained therein, so Ahmad boasted of his own Arabic and his ventures in Arabic poetry as miraculous signs He once offered to give Rs. 10,000 given him from above. twelve days to any Muslim who should produce in an Arabic ode of equal excellence with the one he himself would indite. The main burden of his ode, written at the falseness time, Qdsida Ijdzia(" Qderaculous Ode ") was the 1 like the of Shi'ite Muslims, whom he called mushriks

The same challenge accompanied his Ijaz-ulmiraculous Arabic commentary on the Surat'" 2 al-Fdtiha (Review of Religious, I, p. 495). Ahmad likewise claimed some remarkable discoveries For instance, he declared relating to the origin of words. that Khinzir, the Arabic word for pig, was derived from Khinz, meaning "very foul," and ar, meaning "I see"; and that similarly suar (pig) in Urdu is composed of two also meaning "I see foul "; so he concludes, compounds " Su'ar is therefore an Arabic word, and the reason of its prohibition is now evident" {Review of Religions, I, p. 99). By other such examples, which the philologist will find equally amusing, Ahmad sought to prove what he calls "one of the greatest discoveries of the age," that Arabic 3 is the mother of all languages. " that the descriptive announced he In this connection Christians.

Masih,

"

a

Bedouins disclose treasures of scientific not how many thousands of years afterwards, were discovered by the world (Review of Reli-

words facts,

of ignorant

which,

gions,

I,

p.

we know

79).

" was announced great discoveries A Revealed Cure in entitled 1898, pamphlet published The Marhdm-i-'Isd (Ointment for the Bubonic Plague.

One

"

of his typical

in a

1 To the AhmadI the Sunnite Muslim is a kafir (unbeliever) death and intercession simply, whereas the Shi'ite, whose doctrine of the of Imam Husain is held to be analogous to the Christian worship of is called a mushrik: i.e., one who attributes to God a shdrik

Jesus, or partner.

This

the sin of shirk. of the Opener," placed at the beginning of the Qur'an. This is recited several times during the five daily prayers, and has been called the Muslim Lord's Prayer. 3 The Teachings of Islam, Luzac Cf. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad •

"

is

The Chapter

:

&

Co., London, 1910, p. 131.

THE AHMADIVA MOVEMENT

42

of Jesus), which was declared to he "spoken of by the Jewish, Christian, Parsi and Muhammad an physicians" " and of which over a thousand books on medicine contain a description," the very medicine which miraculously healed Jesus' wounds after he had been removed from the

cross in a

swoon, was now offered

miraculous remedy

for sale

by

Ahmad

as a

"prepared solely under the influence of divine inspiration." This remedy disappeared from the market as the result of an order issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Lahore, dated 19th October, 1899, followed by the decision of the Chief Court of the Panjab in the appealed case, dated 8th June, for the plague,

1900.

An Ahmadiya heresy, sometimes put forward as an unique discovery and a sign of Ahmad's prophetship, was the denial of the presence in the Qur'an of any so-called In asserting this belief Ahmad was abrogated verses. running counter to the universal agreement ijma' of the 1

Muslim

people. In the latest

Yakub Beg, Ahmad, such

life

of

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, by Mirza

number

of specific miracles are ascribed to the finding of a dead scorpion in his bed, and, most important, his restoration to life of a boy who had been drowned. It is further recorded that after the miraculous resuscitation of the youth, he almost immediately It may be to that incident that Ahmad passed away. referred in the following sentence "I also swear by the sacred name of God that I have restored the dead to life " in the manner in which the divine law has allowed it {Review of Religions, I, p. 205). a

as

:

The chief miraculous signs to which Ahmad laid claim, In however, were his alleged prophecies of future events. this connection he writes :

"

only supernatural evidence that can carry a conviction to all reasonable minds at a time of great scientific advancement when everything must needs be put to the scientific test, and this is the reason why the wise and foreseeing God ha9, in his

Prophecy

in fact

is

the

1 For an exhaustive summary of the orthodox view of abrogation (mansiikh) see article by D. B. Macdonald, in Moslem World, VII,

p.420ff.

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

43

and living book, brought prophecy to the front and laid stress upon while he has thrown other miracles into the background as not being evidence of the highest type, inasmuch as performances by sleight of last

it

hand or showman's tricks, or other mechanical or optical deceptions, on account of-their strong resemblance with the miraculous, take away " the whole force of the evidence (Review of Religions, I, p. 315) .

The prophecies of which Ahmad boasted most constantly had to do with the death or humiliation of his curses as prophecies. Although enemies, and were as much " " of such instances, we hundreds he frequently writes of These in detail to comparatively few. find him referring select cases were his prophecies of the death of his two arch-enemies, Pandit Lekh Ram, of the Arya Samaj, and Mr. Abdulla Atham, E.A.C., a prominent Indian ChrisChiragh Din, the apostate from1 tian, and (less often) the Ahmadlya ranks, and Dr. John Alexander Dowie, The most definite prophecy in America. was that which declared that Pandit Lekh

of

them

all

Ram would

die within six years of the time of the promulgation of the " and the 'Id (Muhammadan festival) will be prophecy,

Four years after the prophecy appeared, very near to it." on the 6th of March, the day following the most important " the 'Id (the 'Id-uz-Zuha or Bakr 'Id, called simply in India), Pandit Lekh Ram was the victim of an assassin's f

W

dagger. The members of the Arya Samaj, and many others, not unnaturally believed that the prophecy and the murder had a sinister connection of cause and effect quite different from that which was urged by Ahmad. Through the instrumentality,

chiefly,

of

his

first

most powerful

and

Muslim opponent, Maulvl Muhammad Husain, Ahmad was constrained by an order of the Government, dated February 24th, 1899, to promise hereafter

"To

:

—

refrain from publishing any prediction involving the disbe represented as an grace of any person, or in which any one should object of God's displeasure. " To refrain from to God to publishing any challenge to appeal indicate by the signs of his displeasure, such as disgrace, etc., the in the wrong. party in a religious controversy which is " To refrain from to be an publishing any writing purporting taken to be the disinspiration the object of which can be reasonably 1

Cf. p. 45, Note 1.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

44

grace of any person, or the representing of him as the object of the

Divine wrath."

The case of Mr. Abdulla Atham was interesting because, although his prophesied death and descent to hell was widely heralded, he was still living after the allotted time (fifteen months) had expired. Ahmad then issued a whole series of explanations. He declared that the purport of the prophecy was that whichever of the two (Atham or himself) was a liar would die within the lifetime of the other. This would be fulfilled. The condition of the prophecy was, "unless he turn to the truth." He was

alleged to have shown signs of relenting, so that, " accordance with the well-known laws of prophecy," a The details of the prophecy respite had been granted. were indefinite, and "such details are only manifested after their fulfilment." Finally, he admitted that he " It also happens that an error might have been wrong. occurs sometimes in the interpretation of a prophecy, for, after all, prophets are mortals." For instance, "Jesus had prophesied that his twelve apostles would sit on twelve in

thrones, whereas one of

own

"

them became the

devil's in

his

{Review of Religions, III, p. 350). When, however, Mr. Abdulla Atham, then an old man, died life-time

eighteen months later, Ahmad declared that the original prophecy had been triumphantly fulfilled (Review of Religions, II, p. 148). He was always eager to engage his enemies in " prayerduels," believing that by such means God would bring " destruction upon the hypocrite. Christian read, missionaries are reported to be very courageous. They do not, it is said, hesitate to lay down even their lives for the sake of their religion. But they have proved very chickenhearted before Ahmad. None ventures to engage with Ahmad in a prayer contest " (Review of Religions, V, p. 461). Probably no one sentence could better illustrate his fundamental inability to conceive of the true nature and spirit of Christianity than the above, giving expression to his amazement that Christians should be unwilling to pray for his destruction, and attributing their unwillingness to do so to fear of the consequences likely to fall on their

We

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD own

heads.

His one-sided

1

Dowie was widely quoted Dowie scorned to enter the

45

duel with John Alexander the West, and although

in

lists

with him, nevertheless,

Dowie's death, Ahmad wondered why Christendom failed to acknowledge his own power, which had effected such a miracle, and, thenceforth, to accept him as its The following quotation from the Review spiritual head. after

of Religions (V, p. 459) gives a

sophy of prayer and

— "HeAhmad's (Ahmad)

summary

outcome: announced that whoever would pray its

of

philohas

for his death would prey to a speedy and painful death, and that such a person would die before he dies. He has very often invited the world to test his truth by this criterion. Even if a host of men pray against him, they are sure, he says, to be consumed with the wrath of God in his life-time, for the mighty Hand of God is in his support, and every one who rises against him is sure to be knocked down. And there have been actually men who made a response to his call and prayed to God against him, but they all died as he prophesied, and thus furnished a proof of his truth. The names of those who wielded the sword of prayer against him, but cut their own throats with it, are as Maulvi Ghulam Dastaglr, of Qasur, District follows: Maulvi Muhammad Ismail, of Aligarh Lahore Pandit Lekh Ram, the well-known Arya leader Maulvi

himself

fall a

;

;

;

Muhammad

Hasan, of Bhin, District Jhelum Faqlr Mirza, of Dulunijal, District Jhelum Chiragh Din, of ;

;

Jammu."

Ahmad likewise made frequent prophecies of the rapid He also prospread and ultimate triumph of his cause. phesied the birth of sons for his friends, some of whom, it is These reported, paid him liberally for his trouble. prophesies, if we are to believe his enemies, very often "

1 Dowie (1847-1907), self-styled First Apostle of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, and General Overseer of the Christian Apostolic Church in " and " The Promised " Zion," also Messiah," established Elijah II " Zion a religious commonwealth called City," on the shores of Lake Michigan, U.S.A., in 1901. In 1906 the city revolted against him, and he was finally suspended from the Church, charged with misuse of

funds, tyranny and immorality.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

46

failed of fulfilment. At times, for example, we find him of seeking to explain in devious ways the non-appearance " the predicted boy or the appearance of merely a girl," failures with which his enemies delighted to taunt him. One of Ahmad's converts, Abdulla of Timapur, who 1 afterward claimed to be himself the Messiah, in a published reply to a pamphlet of Ahmad's mentions the case of a certain Risaldar-Major, who gave the Mirza Sahib Rs. 500 in return for the prophecy of a son who failed to materialize. He likewise writes of one, Fateh 'AH Shah, who asked for prayer for the recovery of his wife, who soon

after passed away. He further states that Maulvi Muhammad Husain, Ahmad's inveterate opponent, received a of land from the Government soon after his immediately forthcoming discomfiture had been prophesied by Ahmad. Professor Siraj-ud-DIn, in an illuminating article on the

grant

~

Ahmadiya movement published in 1907, shows how a clever Muslim opponent of Ahmad's answered in kind one species of characteristic Ahmadiya challenge " :

One of the

tion with

clever tricks used by the Mirza in connecif a his prophetic business is to announce that '

certain prediction true, let his

made by him against an opponent is not to Qadian within so many days

opponent come

and swear the prediction has not been fulfilled, and if he come within the stated period it is proved that he Such wrong and the prediction has come true! challenges are often in their very nature unanswerable. does not is in the

'

1 Maulvi Abdulla of Timapur (a suburb of Shorapur, in the Deccan) had been successively Sunnite Muslim, Wahhabi, and Ahmadi, " I am the man from God before he created his own

sect,

You must

all

follow me.

I

am

declaring, the real Khalifa of

:

Qadian." much more

He

has

about three hundred disciples at present, and is friendly than to Muslims. I am indebted for this information to Rev. N. Desai, the pastor of a self-supporting Indian Christian congre-

to Christians

gation at Shorapur. 2 R. Siraj-ud-Din, now professor of philosophy in Forman Christian College, Lahore, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church, spent several months with Ahmad at Qadian during the period when He has kept in close he was weighing the claims of Christianity. touch with the Ahmadiya movement ever since, and the article from which we quote may be counted a primary source,

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

47

is paid by others in the same coin. A maulvi, of Lahore, published a notice some time ago that he had prophesied a number of things about the Mirza which had all come true, viz., that he shall not succeed in marrying a certain woman that in a certain case a girl and not a boy shall be born, contrary to the Mirza's prophecy, etc., etc. Then he went on to say that his last prophecy about the Mirza. was that he would become a leper, and that from people who had seen the Mirza he had learned that signs of leprosy had appeared He therefore challenged the Mirza to come on his body. to Lahore within a stated period, and show his body in public if it was free from leprosy, and if the Mirza did not come within that time, it would prove that he had certainly become a leper according to the Maulvi's prophecy.

But sometimes he

Muhammadan

;

The Mirza, though ordinarily ready for an answer to 1 everything, had no answer whatever to give." The above are a few of the false prophecies that have been cited by Ahmad's enemies. At the time of the acute unrest in Bengal, due to the 2 partition of the province, Ahmad prophesied, in February, " 1906, relating to the order that had been given concernat first, they will be conciliated now ing Bengal (Review of Religions, V, p. 82). After the excitement had somewhat subsided and the temporarily unpopular Lieutenant-Governor of the new province had resigned (long before the rearrangement of the partition), Ahmad claimed '

:

that his prophecy had been fulfilled, and jubilantly queried " Could any one guess six months before the resignation of Sir B. There Fuller that the Bengali agitators would be thus conciliated ? :

1 "Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a False Messiah of India," in The Missionary Review of the World, New Series, XX, pp. 754, 755. 2 In 1905 a new province, of Eastern Bengal and Assam, was in part created out of a section of old Bengal, and there was a general realignment of boundaries in that part of India. The move was believed by the Hindu populace to be an attempt to weaken national, political and religious feeling, and proved so unpopular that in December, 1911, at the time of the King-Emperor's durbar in Delhi, announcement was made of a forthcoming rearrangement of the boundaries, whereby Eastern Bengal was to be re-united to Bengal proper in the present Bengal Presidency.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

48

were, no doubt, men who hoped that a Liberal Government in England may set aside the order of partition, but no one ever thought of the conciliatory policy that has been adopted by the Government"

(Review

of Religions, V, p. 363).

Ahmad

did

not

learn

to

live

that

the

agitation,

which he then believed ended, was to continue, and that those who believed that the Liberal Government would rearrange the partition were finally proved to have been in the right. Had he done so, he would unquestionably have explained that it was only a more complete fulfilment of his original prophecy.

Ahmad

laid

much

stress

on

1

his ability

to

foresee the

On April 4th, 1905, a earthquake and plague. Out of the great earthquake occurred in North India. mass of his forgotten past prophecies he then produced one, of the date of December, 1903, which said, "A shock of earthquake"; and another, of May, 1904, which declared, " No trace shall be left of the abodes; both permanent and temporary abodes being laid waste." As no time or place was specified, and as it was even possible, if necessary or desirable, to allegorize the expected earthquake in some manner, it had no doubt seemed certain that the prophecies would prove convenient for reference at some later date. And so it happened, with the occurrence of the earthquake of 1905, when, referring to those prophecies, coming

we

of

it written in the Review of Religions: " No power in heaven or earth besides that of the Omniscient God could reveal such deep knowledge of the future."

find

This

is

a

good

definite post 1

what Dr. Griswold, four the Delphic ambiguity of his which the indefinite is made

illustration of

"

years previous, wrote of as oracles, and also the way in

eventum."

2

Since writing the above words

I

have come upon an

article

in

Review

of Religions for May, 1916 (XV, p. 168), which deals with Ahmad 's various prophecies, and in which, in connection with " Ahmad's Prophecy about Bengal," the announcement of the rearrangement of the partition, on 12th December, 1911, is given as the fulfilment of Ahmad's prediction "to the very letter." marking " is " Conciliation," the author writes, predicted in the prophetic utterances, and the same is brought about." *

Mirzd Ghulam Ahmad, The Mehdi Messiah

of

Qadian,

p. 31.

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

49

Ahmad himself was constrained to admit that his prophecies were open to criticism on the score of vagueness but he felt that the criticism was unjust, and complained: " Now that the thing has happened all these wonderful prophecies are ignored because it was not stated that on the 4th of April, in 1905, a severe shock of earthquake would be felt at 6.15 a.m., which would level the buildings with the ground in such and such cities situated in the Kangra district, that its crushing effect would also be felt in such and such other cities of the Panjab, and that the number of persons killed or buildings destroyed would be so much. What is the particular which was not foretold withthe exception only of the names and figures? The italics are ours. of Religions, IV, p. 230).

The Review a typical

"

(Review

of Religions for December, 1915, gives of some of the fulfilled prophecies of

summary

the impression that these events were predicted definitely and in detail, whereas in not a single instance, probably (if we except the case of Dr. Dowie, whose coming downfall was evident to thousands), was this the case " He (Ahmad) published hundreds of prophecies, many of which have already come true (such as his prophecy regarding the Partition of Bengal, the defeat of Russia and the annexation of Korea by Japan, the Persian Revolution, the outbreak of plague in India, the occurrence of earthquakes of unparalleled severity in diverse parts of the

Ahmad, conveying

:

Turks in Thrace and their subsequent victory over the Bulgarians, the downfall and death of Dr. Dowie, the false prophet of America, etc., etc.) and many still await fulfilment." earth, the defeat of

The

plague, which raged continuously in the years before the death of the prophet, was This was the same principle. a further example of held to be not only a general fulfilment of prophecies of Jesus, Muhammad and Ahmad, referring to the Last

Panjab

great

for

many

Day, and a warning to men everywhere to recognize promised Messiah's claims (Review of Religions, VI, p. 251), but it evoked a more detailed prophecy of Ahmad's, to the effect that God would protect from the the

4

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

50

scourge the followers of Ahmad, the village of Qadian, and especially the house of Ahmad. Regarding inocu1902 (Review of lation for the plague, he wrote in Religions, I, p. 417) " It should be borne in mind that I do not declare it to be gene:

rally illegal to have recourse to medicines or preventive measures in the case of plague or other diseases, for the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that there is no malady for which God has not created a But I consider it sinful to obscure by inoculation the heavenly remedy.

sign which

God

has been gracious enough to display for

me and my

followers, and by which he intends to show his distinctive favour to I cannot, therefore, those who accept me in sincerity and faithfulness. insult and discredit this sign of mercy by submitting to inoculation, and be guilty of unbelief in the promise of God."

When the plague eventually reached Qadian, and struck down, indiscriminately, both enemies and followers of Ahmad, explanations were in order and were forthcoming " The :

occasional occurrence of plague among my people without causing any considerable loss cannot lessen the value of the heavenly signs, for we witness in the history of early prophets that it was only their ultimate success that served as a heavenly sign, although in the meantime they occasionally suffered loss, which, being insignificant, " could not mar their progress (Review of Religions, I, p. 418). It was also pointed out that prophecy had not said that Qadian would escape the plague, but that it would receive protection, which meant that it would not be utterly desolated as some other towns had been.

III.

THE INCARNATION OF KRISNA

On November Ahmad made

1904,

1st,

in

an

address

at

Sialkot,

public announcement of his being the buriiz (spiritual manifestation), or, in the Hindu language, the avatar (incarnation), of Krisna, as well as, in some sense, of Muhammad and Christ, although he then claimed that he had been addressed as Krisna in one of his earlier revelations " He has told not on one occasion but

the

first

:

me,

repeatedly, that so

I

am

Krisna for the Hindus and the Promised Messiah for the Muhammadans and the Christians. I know that ignorant Muhammadans will at once exclaim, upon hearing this, that I have become a plain un-

THE DISTINCTIVE CLAIMS OF AHMAD

51

and heretic on account of my having adopted the name of an Holy Kri§na to be, but this is a revelation from God which I cannot but announce, and this is the first day that I announce this claim in such a large gathering, for those who Now Raja come from God do not fear being blamed or reviled. Krisna was revealed to me as so great and perfect a man that his equal is not to be found among the Hindu Risliis* and avatars. I love Krisna, for I appear as his image. Spiritually, Krisna and the Promised Messiah are one and the same person, there being no difference except that which exists in the terminology of the two Muhammadan " (Review of Religions, III, people, Hindu and p. 411). believer

unbeliever, as they think the

.

.

.

.

.

.

In the revelation Ahmad was thus addressed: "It is not good to oppose the 'Brahman Avatar'" (Review of Religions, III, p. 411). Hitherto Ahmad, as the Promised Messiah, standing outside of the Hindu fold, had had much to say about Hindu Now he occupied a new platform weaknesses and faults. and spoke with a new voice. In the address from which I have quoted he reiterated many of his old objections to the Arya Samaj, but he now prefixed to them the words: " As Krisna I now warn the Aryas of some of their There is no evidence to show that Hindus and errors." Aryas looked with any more favour upon Ahmad after his unique pronouncement than before, but certainly his anticipations were realized in a further deepening of the animosity with which orthodox Islam regarded this sot disant champion of their faith. Since Ahmad's death one of his followers at Qadian has had printed on the letterhead of his correspondence paper the following legend, which adds further claims not hitherto enunciated, and makes it clear that present-day followers of Ahmad believe that every prophecy of any religion that anticipates the coming upon earth of a great spiritual leader has been fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. This reads as follows :

"Praised be Allah, the Almighty, the Gracious, the Merciful, one worshipable God, Sustainer of all; who through his kindness raised a prophet in these days like unto the prophets of old days, viz., the Promised Messiah, the Muhammadan Mehdi, the Krisna, the latter day Reformer of Parsees, the Hope of all the '

AHMAD,'

1

Cf. p. 105, Notel.

52

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

of the day— Champion of Islam, Reformer of Christianity, Avatar of Hinduism, Buddha of East blessed are they who believe in him, and take shelter under his peaceful banner, now held by his second successor, the promised son, His Hazrat 'Mahmud,' to whom all Existence and correspondence should be addressed on the subjects of Unity of God, the divine message of the greatest of the Prophets, 'Muhammad' (on whom be peace and blessings), truth of Islam, Jesus' Tomb in Kashmir, Second Advent of the Messiah at Qadian,

nations

—

:

Ahmadlya Movement,

etc."

CHAPTER

III

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND

ORTHODOX

ISLAM

Ahmad was

ever boasting of his uncompromising orthohe departed from the beliefs of a majority of his co-religionists on some points, it was only because they had themselves failed rightly to understand the original purport If

doxy.

He was sent to correct their errors and once Ahmad and his give them the true guidance. followers may be held to represent the analogue in Islam of that school of Christians who will brook no study of comparative religions, because they hold that there is but

of Islam.

more

one

religion,

incomparably sublime.

In

the

year

1903

Ahmad received a letter from a religious liberal in America, who wrote that every religion contains some truth and

—

some falsehood being but the radius of a circle whose 1 This creed, which Baha'Ullah would centre is God. He was glad doubtless have applauded, Ahmad spurned. that his correspondent had been led to see the folly and falsehood of Christianity, but regretted that he had not " is the only studied Islam and so discovered that it religion which not only claims to be free from every error

and falsehood, but also offers proof of this freedom from error,no other religion on the face of the earth satisfying either " of these requisites {Review of Religions, III, p. 29). years later a writer in the Review of Religions commented on some remarks by Rev. E. W. Thompson, M.A., in the " in India London Quarterly Review, to the effect that

Two

Baha'Ullah (1817-1892) was the founder as the Baha'is, an outgrowth of Babism. universal religion of brotherhood and peace. 1

known

Persian sect claims to be the

of the It

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

54

there are elements of positive worth, not merely of curious interest, which the Christian missionary can accept thankfully, and use in the building up of the fabric of the Christian Church and nation" (Review of Religions IV Ahmad's editor asserts: " This statement involves p. 317). an admission that Christianity is not a perfect religion in itself. The superiority of Islam lies in this, that while it has from the beginning preached that every religion was founded on truth and that errors found their way into it later on, it has at the same time taught that it is a perfect religion, and that there is no religious truth which is not to be met with in it. Such a perfection can not be claimed by any religion besides Islam " (Review of Religions. ,

IV,

p.

318).

The unique

inspiration of the Qur'an integral element in this perfection.

is,

of course, an

" The Holy Qur'an is, in fact, the only book which asserts that every of it came from an eternal higher source, and that the Prophet

word

Other inspired books claim to be only dictated what he heard. inspired only in the sense that they were infused into the mind of the while the was not infused into the mind, but rehearsed writer, Qur'an before the Prophet by the Angel Gabriel, and then repeated by the " as he heard it Prophet exactly (Review of Religions, I, p. 277).

Nevertheless the Qur'an while inspired must not be considered devoid of reason, enforcing its precepts simply on the basis of their origin :

"In

connection with these remarks it should be borne in mind that the truth of the Holy Qur'an does not depend merely on its uninterrupted transmission and authenticity, for it proceeds on the argumentative line. It does not compel us to accept its doctrines,

commandments simply on the authority of revelation, but appeals to reason in man and gives arguments for what it incul" cates (Teachings of Islam, pp. 171, 172). principles,

and

And

in another place Ahmad writes, contrasting the and the Qur'an: "The Bible is a collection of myths and stories and fables and idle tales, fit for women only, whereas the Qur'an is pure philosophy, free from myths and fables."

Bible

On

the subject of divine inspiration, as distinguished

human inspiration of genius, position as follows from the

:

Ahmad

stated

his

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

55

" Before proceeding further it is necessary to remove a misconcepIlhdm l (inspiration). Illidw does not mean that an

tion regarding

idea

is

infused into the

mind

of a

A

person

who

sets

himself to think

mere poet is not inspired, in the theological sense, when brilliant ideas flash upon him as he sits down to make verses. When the In this case there is no distinction between good and bad. mental powers are applied to a subject, new ideas will flash upon the mind according to the genius of the thinker and without any regard to the good or bad nature of the subject. If the word, Ilhdm, is taken to about a thing.

mean the occurring on a particular occasion of new ideas, a thief or a dacoit or a murderer may as well be called Mulham (the inspired one of God) on account of the ingenious plans which suggest themselves Such to his mischief-making mind for the perpetration of evil deeds. a view of Ilhdm (inspiration) is held by men who are quite ignorant of the true God, who with his word gives peace and consolation to hearts and knowledge of spiritual truths to those who are not aware of them. What is Ilhdm (inspiration) then ? It is the living and powerful Word of God in which he speaks to or addresses one of his servants whom he has chosen, or intends to choose, from among all When such conversation or utterances run on continually in people. a regular method, not being insufficient or fragmentary or enveloped in the darkness of evil ideas, and have a heavenly bliss, wisdom and power with which he comforts his in them, they are the Word of God servant and reveals himself to him" {Teachings of Islam, pp. 177, 178).

He

then proceeds

in

the passage following to

read

recipients of minor inspiration. Although he claimed to be a prophet, with evidentiary miracles, he made no claim to wahy, so far as I can discover. He avoided running counter to the universal

himself

into

the

select

class

of

"

the last of the that Muhammad was prophets and the seal of the prophets" by asserting that

Muslim

his

belief

prophetship

through 2 come.

was not

Muhammad,

in

in

its

whose

own spirit

right, but in and and power he had

—

1 Islam knows of two forms of divine inspiration wahy, major inspiration, granted to the prophets; and ilhdm, minor inspiration, granted to the saints generally by means of which knowledge comes into their minds through direct illumination, as opposed to that which

—

comes through study and deduction. Cf. Macdonald: The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, For an excellent summary of the orthodox Chicago, 1909, p. 252ff. position, see article by Macdonald on "The Doctrine of Revelation in Islam," in Moslem World, VII, p. 112. '

Cf. p. 37.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

56

Of Muhammad we are told, as we should expect, that he "spoke not a word of himself, but only that which he heard from God" (Review of Religions, I, p. 277). Not only was Muhammad's utterance inspired, but his life was 1 sinless as well. All sins imputed to him by Christian writers Ahmad attempted to refute, including his marriage to Zainab, the divorced wife of Zaid, which Ahmad defended, and the so-called "lapse of Muhammad or "compromise with idolatry," found in a number of traditions, which Ahmad denied in toto. Muhammad is variously referred to as a true Saviour, an Intercessor, a miracleworker, and a perfect manifestation of the Divine Being. Ahmad held that the sunna 3 was given with the Qur'an for the guidance of mankind. The traditions, he wrote, can be believed because of the unequalled "pains taken by Muhammadan writers in ascertaining the true facts of the Holy Prophet's life, and in sifting the traditional lore" (Review of Religions, III, p. 44°). Some variations are admitted, but " Traditions cannot be divested of their authority, and the historical value they possess, by the mere consideration that even the minute scrutiny of early collectors may not have freed them from every error, while their authenticity can be further tested by the consideration that no authentic tradition can contradict the Holy Qur'an " (Review of Religions, III, pp. 449, 450). It must be added that a further test of the authenticity any tradition in Ahmad's eyes was that it should not contradict the particular interpretation of Islam for which the "promised Messiah" claimed divine sanction in our

of

day. 1

Cf. p. 81, Note 1.

2

After Qur'an LIII, 20, where several Arabian idols are men-

tioned, tradition says that at the first recital of the Qur'an Muhammad " These are added, hoping to win the Meccans by this compromise, the exalted females, and verily their intercessions may be expected." This is one of the verses that were later abrogated and do not now For the original traditions in which the story appears, see appear. in Islam, Madras, 1916, pp. 48-52. Goldsack, 3 That is, the custom or usage of the Prophet which has been handed down for the guidance of the Muslim people in the traditions. Each tradition (hadis) contains a sunna, a narrative of what the Prophet said or did or did not do on a certain occasion.

Muhammad

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

57

Ahmad

and his followers have subscribed to the five (arkan) of Islam, as is indicated in a lecture on 1 " Fundamental Doctrines of the Muslim Faith," delivered in December, 1906, at the annual gathering of the Sadr 2 Anjuman-i-Ahmadtya, and we are pleased to note that he taught a spiritual and ethical rather than a mechanical and He was unsparing in his literal obedience to the law. condemnation of those orthodox Muslims of whose performance of their religious duties he writes " In short, though there are some people who still carry out some of the precepts of Shari'at (religious law), they do it in a way that pillars

:

actions fail to produce the effect which ought to have been produced. Their Namaz, their Roza, their Zakdt and their Hajj are just the kind of actions performed by players, one of whom sometimes assumes the role of king and takes his seat and holds his court, though This worship of theirs has no value in actually he is a beggar. the sight of God" (Review of Religions, XIV, p. 449). their

.

.

.

Regarding Shahadat, the verbal witness of the Muslim God and the prophetship of Muhammad,

to the unity of

Ahmad

denied that " The utterance of

sufficient for the

the above-mentioned words with the tongue attainment of salvation ";

is

and he continued " Almighty God

:

sees the hearts and mere words have no imporThe realization of the signification of these tance in his sight. words involves that a man should have no object of love besides God, nor any object of worship or desire besides him" (Review of Reli.

.

.

gions, VI, p. 25).

Similarly of Salat or Namaz, the Muslim worship prescribed five times daily, he wrote "The utterance of certain words with the lips is not prayer. It :

of prayer that the heart is a necessary condition for the acceptance should completely melt before God, and the grace of God should be All the movements taught with patience and perseverance. " .

prayers are expressive of the deepest (Review of Religions, VI, 28).

in

.

.

humbleness before

God

This lecture first appeared in sections in Review of Religions and afterward was published by Luzac & Company, London, under the caption, The Teachings of Islam, from which quotations have already been made. " Chief 2 founded before Ahmad's death in 1

in 1907, in 1910,

Ahmadiya Society," accordance with instructions contained in his will, the contents of See p. 113 in 1905.

which were made known

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

58

of

Of the third pillar, saum, Ramadan, he said

month

or fasting during the

:

"

The necessary for the perfect purity of the soul. hunger and reducing the quantity of food which one generally takes is an essential step in the spiritual progress of man. Man does not live by bread alone. 1 The man who fasts should bear in mind that fasting does not mean only abstainIts true significance is that man ing from food for a stated time. should abstain from every kind of evil" (Review of Religions, VI Fasting

is

.

.

.

fact is that the suffering of .

p.

.

.

.

.

.

30).

Regarding Zakat, or almsgiving, he held that " What Islam aims at teaching by this institution is that should not so love the wealth of this world as to feel it difficult with it in the way of God " (Review of Religions, VI, p. 31).

The

fifth pillar,

the pilgrimage to

Mecca

a

man

to part

(Hajj),

"

Represents the last stage for the spiritual wayfarer," when he "has all his lower connections entirely cut off and he is completely The true lover finds his highest satisengrossed with Divine love. faction in sacrificing his very heart and soul for the beloved one's sake, and the circuit round the house of God is an emblem of external " manifestation of it (Review of Religions, VI, pp. 31-32). It might be noted here that Ahmad himself never the pilgrimage to Mecca, perhaps because of his

made poor

health.

At

this

few further quotations from The in order, showing, like those spiritualized treatment of Qur'anic verses

point

a

Teachings of Islam may be given,

just

a

more akin to the interpretations of the Sufis (the Muslim mystics) than to those of the orthodox

that

is

commentators.

With regard to the sources of man's threefold nature (physical, moral and spiritual) he declared :

"

To

return to the subject in hand, as I have already stated, there are three sources which give rise to the threefold nature of man, viz., the disobedient soul, the self-accusing soul, and the soul at rest. 2

1

This quotation from Jesus' words in the temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4 4) is interesting here. 2 For a statement of the Sufi teaching regarding the three states of the soul referred to in Qur'an, XII, 53; LXXV, 2; and LXXXIX, :

27, respectively, see Macdonald, in Isld,)i pp. 229, 230.

The Religious Attitude and Life

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM Accordingly there are three stages

59

of

reformation, answering respectively we are concerned with mere raise to the status of civilised ignorant savages, whom it is our duty to men by teaching them the social laws relating to their daily mutual In the

to the three sources.

The

relations.

first

step

first

stage

toward

civilization,

therefore, consists

in

devour carcases, or teaching the savage not to walk about naked, or the indulge in other barbarous habits. This is the lowest grade in In humanizing people upon whom no ray of the reformation of man. is necessary, first of all, to take light of civilization has yet fallen, it them through this stage and make them accustomed to morals of the When the savage has learned the crude manners of lowest type. He is he is prepared for the second stage of reformation.

society,

the high and excellent moral qualities pertaining to humanity, as well as the proper use of his own faculties and of whatever Those who have acquired excellent morals lies hidden beneath them. are now prepared for the third stage, and, after they have attained to outward perfection, are made to taste of union with, and the love of, God. These are the three stages which the Holy Qur'an has des-

then taught

cribed as necessary for any wayfarer who travels in the path of (The Teachings of Islam, pp. 19, 20).

Of which

the so

stage, "the soul at rest," regarding Sufi treatises have been written, he had

third

many

this to say, in part

"

We

God "

:

in the beginning of this discourse that the source of the spiritual conditions is the soul at rest which takes a

have already stated

in other in his moral progress and makes him godly Upon words, transports him from the moral to the spiritual regions. O thou soul that this topic the following verse has a plain bearing art at rest and restest fully contented with thy Lord, return unto him, so enter among my he being pleased with thee and thou with him In disservants and enter into my Paradise!' (LXXXIX, 28,30).

man onward

;

'

!

:

;

cussing the spiritual

conditions,

it

is

necessary to

comment upon

this

should be borne in mind that the highest world is that he spiritual condition to which man can aspire in this should rest contented with God and find his quietude, his happiness verse in

and

some

detail.

his delight in

It

him

alone.

This

is

the stage of

life

which we

The

pure and perfect sincerity, truth and righteousness of a person are rewarded by Almighty God by granting All others look to a prospective him a heaven upon this earth. It is at this stage, paradise but he enters paradise in this very life. at first too, that a person realizes that the prayers and worship, which appeared to him as a burden, are really a nourishment on which the growth of his soul depends, and that this is the basis of his spiritual development. He then sees that the fruit of his efforts is not to be The spirit, which, in the second stage, reaped in a future life only. term

the heavenly

life.

man for the impurities of life, was yet powerless the evil tendencies or to blot them out wholly and too infirm to establish a man upon the principle of virtue with firmness, now although blaming a to resist

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

60

reaches a stage of development in which its efforts are crowned with The sensual passions die out of themselves and the soul no more stumbles but, strengthened with the Spirit of God, it is ashamed

success.

of its past failings.

away; an

entire

The

state of struggle with evil propensities passes the nature of man and the former

change passes over

He is perfectly estranged habits undergo a complete transformation. He is washed of all impurities and from his former courses of life. God himself plants the love of virtue in his heart perfectly cleansed. The and purifies it of the defilement of evil with his own hand. hosts of truth encamp in his heart and righteousness controls all the Truth is victorious and falsehood lays down its towers of his heart. arms and is reduced to subjection. The hand of God sways over his heart and he walks every step under his shelter" (The Teachings of Islam, pp. 96-98)

.

In order to the realisation of perfect union with

two means

God

are given:

" Returning to the main point of the subject under discussion, the Holy Qur'an has taught us two means for a perfect spiritual union with God, viz., complete resignation to the will of God, which is known by the name of Islam, and constant prayers and supplications, as taught 1 in the opening sura of Al-Qur'an, known by the name of fatiha.

The essence of the religious code of Muhammadism is contained in Islam and the fatiha. These are two channels which lead to the fountain of salvation and the only safe guides which lead us to God" (The Teachings of Islam, p. 118).

Ahmad's conception of the life after death accepts and improves on the most advanced spiritual interpretations that we have seen elsewhere of the passages of the Qur'an Numerous echoes of New referring to the hereafter. Testament verses and teachings can be noted. Somewhat fuller quotations are needed here :

" From

the

manner

in

which internal conditions are repredreams we can form an idea of the

physical forms in of the spiritual conditions of this world in the life to come. After our earthly course is ended, we are translated to their consequences assume a shape, regions where our deeds and and what is hidden in us in this world is there unrolled and facts embodiments of laid spiritual open before us. These are substantial realities, as, even in dreams, though the sight soon vanishes away, yet so long as it is before our eyes, it is taken to be a As this representation by images is a new and a perfect reality. manifestation of the power of God, we may as well call it, not a representation of certain facts, but actually a new creation brought

sented

in

embodiment

1

Cf. p. 41, Note 2.

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM about by the powerful hand of God.

With

reference to this

61

point,

No soul that worketh good Almighty God says in the Holy Qur'an knoweth the blessings and joys which have been kept secret for it (XXXII, 17) to be disclosed after death. Thus Almighty God '

:

'

,

describes the heavenly blessings that the righteous shall enjoy in the next life as having been kept secret because, not being like anything

contained in this world, no one knows aught about them. It is evident that the things of this world are not a secret to us; we not only know pomegranates, dates, milk, etc., but frequently taste of them. These things, therefore, could not be called secrets. The fruits of paradise have, therefore, nothing in common with these except the

name.

He

Holy Qur'an who takes paradise world are provided in abundance. In explanation of the verse quoted above, the Holy Prophet said that heaven and its blessings are things which the eye hath not seen, for a place

is

perfectly ignorant of the

where only the things

of this

'

nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of them.' * But of the things of this world we cannot say that our eyes have not seen them, or that our ears have not heard them, or that our minds have not conceived them. When God and his Prophet tell us of things in heaven which our senses are not cognizant of in this world, we should be guilty of cherishing doctrines against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an if we supposed rivers flowing with the milk which we ordinarily drink here. Can we, moreover, consistently with the idea of heaven, suppose flocks of cows and buffaloes reared in the paradisiac grounds and numerous honeycombs hanging on trees with

engaged in collecting honey and hosts of angels engaged day and night in milking cows and getting honey and pourthem Are ing continuously into streams to keep them running on ? these ideas in keeping with the teachings of the verses which tell us that this world is a stranger to the blessings of the next world ? Will these things illumine the soul or increase the knowledge of God or afford spiritual food as the heavenly blessings are described to do ? It countless bees busily

no doubt, that these blessings are represented as material things, but that their source is spirituality and righteousness" of Islam, p. 122ff). the good men enjoy spiritually in this life are really blessings not of this but of the next life, and are granted to them as a specimen of the bliss that is in store for them in the next life in order to It should, moreover, be borne in mind increase their yearning for it. that the truly righteous man is not of this world, and hence he is also hated by the world. He is of heaven and is granted heavenly blessings, The just as the worldly ones are granted the dainties of this world. blessings which are granted him are really hidden from the eyes, the ears and the hearts of men of the world, and they are quite strangers to them. But the person whose physical life is annihilated in the heavenly enjoyments is made spiritually to taste of the cup which he shall actually quaff in the next world, and hence the truth of the words: is,

we are also told (The Teachings " Whatever

1

Corinthians 2: 9.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

62

These were the fruits which were given us formerly.' But he shall same time be perfectly aware that those blessings were quite unknown to the world, and as he too was in this world, though not of this world, so he also shall bear witness that his physical eye never saw such blessings, nor his ear ever heard of them, nor his mind ever conceived of them in the world" (The Teachings of Islam, p. 127). " It should also be borne in mind that the Holy Qur'an describes The first world is three worlds or three different states of man's life. the present one, which is called the world of earning and of the first It is here that man earns a reward for the good or bad deeds creation. he does. Although there are stages of advancement for the good after resurrection, yet that advancement is granted simply by the grace of God, and does not depend upon human efforts. "The second world is called barzakh. 1 The word originally means '

at the

any intermediate

As

state.

this

world

falls

between the present

life

and

But this word has from has been called barzakh. time immemorial been applied to an intermediate state, and thus the word itself is a standing witness to the intermediate state between The state of barzakh is that in which death and after life. the soul leaves the mortal body and the perishable remains are resurrection,

it

.

.

.

decomposed. The body is thrown into a pit, and the soul also is, as it were, thrown down into some pit, because it loses the power to do good or bad deeds along with its loss of control over the body. It is evident that a good state of the soul is dependent upon the soundness A shock communicated to a particular point of the brain of the body. causes a loss of memory, while an injury to another part is certain to deal a death-blow to the reasoning faculty and may destroy even consciousness. Similarly a convulsion of the brain muscles or a hemorrhage or morbidity of the brain may, by causing obstruction, lead to insensibility, epilepsy or cerebral apoplexy. Experience, therefore, establishes the fact beyond all reasonable doubt that with all its conIt is nections severed from the body the soul can serve no purpose. simply idle to assert that the human soul can, at any time, enjoy a Now if the bliss without having any connection with a body. soul is unable to make any advancement in this brief life without the assistance of the body, how could it, without a body, attain to the higher stages of advancement in the next life ? "In short, various arguments prove conclusively that, according to the Islamic principles, the perfection of the soul depends upon its permanent connection with a body. There is no doubt that after death this body of clay is severed from the soul, but then in the barzakh .

.

.

every soul receives temporarily a new body to be in a position to taste reward or punishment of its deeds. This new body is not a body of clay, but a bright or a dark body prepared from the actions of this life. Such is the Qur'anic description of the body in the barzakh, viz., that the soul has a new body, which is bright or dark according It may appear as a to the good or bad actions which a man performs. of the

is

1 The verse of the Qur'an (XXIII, 102) in which this word appears the source of the Muslim conception of an intermediate state.

AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

63

not mystery to some, but this much at least must be admitted, that it is The perfect man realises the preparation of such a unreasonable. Ordinary human understanding may bright body even in this life. call it a mystery which is beyond human comprehension, but those who have a keen and bright spiritual sight will have no difficulty in realizing the truth of a bright or a dark body after death prepared from In short, the new body granted in the barzakh actions in this life. becomes the means of the reward of good or evil. I have personal Many a time, when fully awake, I have seen experience in this matter. I have seen many an visions in which I saw those who were dead. I evil-doer and a wicked person with a body quite dark and smoky. have personal acquaintance with these matters, and I assert it forcibly that, as Almighty God has said, every one is granted a body, either transparent or dark. " The third world is the world of resurrection. In this world every soul, good or bad, virtuous or wicked, shall be given a visible body. The day of resurrection is the day of the complete manifestation of God's glory, when every one shall become perfectly aware of the existence On that day every person shall have a complete and open of God. How this can be brought about is not a matter reward of his actions. to wonder at, for God is all-powerful and nothing is impossible with .

him

.

.

" (The Teachings of Islam, pp. 131-136). " The third point of importance that the Holy Qur'an has des-

cribed in connection with the life after death, is that the progress that Those can be made in that world is infinite. The word of God says who have the light of faith in this world shall have their light on the day of judgment running before them and on their right hands, and '

:

" O Lord, perfect our light and take they shall be continually saying: us in thy protection, for thou hast power over all things" (LXVI, This unceasing desire for perfection shows clearly that progress in 8). For when they shall have attained one paradise shall be endless. excellence they shall not stop there, and seeing a higher stage of excellence shall consider that to which they shall have attained as imperfect and shall, therefore, desire the attainment of the higher excellence.

When

they shall have attained to this they shall yet see another higher and thus they shall continue to pray for the attainment of This ceaseless desire for perfection higher and higher excellences." shows that they shall be endlessly attaining to excellences (The Teachings of Islam, pp. 142, 143). "In short, heaven and hell, according to the Holy Qur'an, are images and representations of a man's own spiritual life in this world. They It is true that are not new material worlds which come from outside. they shall be visible and palpable, call them material if you please, but call they are only embodiments of the spiritual facts of this world. them material not in the sense that there shall be trees planted in the paradisiacal fields just like those that are planted here below, and that there shall be brimstones and sulphur in hell, but in the sense that we shall then find the embodiments of the spiritual facts of this life. Heaven and hell, according to Muslim belief, are the images of the actions which excellence,

We

we perform

here below

"

(

The Teachings

of Islam, pp. 144, 145),

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

64

One is irresistably reminded in reading the last passage of Fitzgerald's translation of the familiar quatrains, 1 and LXVII, of the Rubd'iydt of Khayyam:

LXVI

Omar

"

sent

I

Some

my

Soul through the Invisible,

letter of that

After-life to spell

:

And by and by my soul returned to me, And answer'd, I myself am Heav'n and '

Hell

':

" Heav'n but

the Vision of fulfill'd Desire, And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves,

So

late

emerged from,

shall so soon expire."

As was to be expected, Ahmad had no patience with the newer school of thinkers and writers in Islam who have abated somewhat the earlier claim of Islam to miraculous perfection and originality. The Right Hon. Syed

Amir 'AH, the distinguished now living in London, and

jurist

and apologist

of Islam,

Khuda Baksh, M.A.,

S.

an

Oxford graduate and former professor in Presidency College, Calcutta, are scholarly enough to admit that the sources of Islam can largely be traced in the older religions of the world, so many of which were represented in pre-Islamic

Arabia

2

and

especially in Judaism and Christianity. a priori reasoning, declared this to have been impossible, whatever certain scholars may say " The Christians have spent too much time and labour, and they have spent it in vain, in showing that such and such a story in the Holy Qur'an corresponds with another found in an earlier Jewish or Christian writing. The sources of Islam are not determined by any If alleged correspondence, but by the effect which its teachings had. the Jewish and Christian writings were the source from which Islamic teachings and principles had been taken, their effect should have been at any rate inferior to that of the originals from which they were taken. But the inability of Jewish and Christian teachings to bring about a :

Ahmad, by

:

pure transformation in the lives of a people whom Islam, only within a few years, changed so entirely is a conclusive proof that the source of 1

Edition of

2

Cf.

Syed

Edward Heron-Allen, London, 1899, Amir 'All, The Spirit of Islam,

Calcutta, 1902,

lix

and

Introduction, p. Essays Indian and Islamic, Probsthain ;

S.

pp. 98,100. Lahiri Co.,

&

Khuda Baksh, M.A.,

& Co., London, 1912, p. 10. from which Muhammad borrowed were Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Sabseanism and the pagan religion of Arabia. This subject is treated at length in W. St. Clair Tisdall, The Original Sources of the Qur'an, London, 1905. The

chief

religions

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM Islam was far purer and higher than the Jewish writings" (Review of Religions, IV, pp. 272, 273).

and

6S

Christian

The alleged benighted condition of pre-Islamic Arabia and the marvellous transformation wrought by Islam in every department of life is a frequent subject of Ahmad's enthusiastic comment. " The Arabs were then

in such a degraded state that they could There was no evil but was to be found in them, hardly be called men. and there was no form of shirk 1 but prevailed among them. Thieving

and dacoity formed their business, and the murder of a human being was with them like the trampling under foot of an ant. They killed orphans to appropriate their property, and buried their daughters alive under the ground. They took pride in adultery and openly spoke of indecent things in their poems, which were immoral in the highest degree. Drinking prevailed to such an extent that no house was free from it, and in gambling they beat every other people. In were a short, they disgrace even to the beasts and snakes of the desert. " But when the Holy Prophet rose to regenerate these people, and when he devoted his whole attention to the purifying of their hearts and cast his holy influence on them, he worked such a transformation among them in a few days that from their savage stage they rose to be men, and from the stage of men they advanced to the stage of civilization, and thus progressing step by step they became godly men and finally they were so annihilated in the love of God that they bore every pain with the utmost resignation " 2 (Review of Religions, VII, pp. 264, 265).

He takes sharp issue with the rationalistic school of Muhammadans who seek to account for Muhammad and his revelation on other than supernatural grounds. After saying that unprejudiced European scholars are bound to " a great and wise Reformer and recognize in Muhammad " the noble benefactor of mankind (Review of Religions, I, p. 311), he proceeds, " But even the author of the Islam 3 and Spirit of

Mu'tazilite,

1

Cf. p. 41, Note 1. Reference to any authentic history of the period will show how Ahmad has distorted facts in this extreme statement. 3 Syed Amir 'All admits his sympathy with the position of the Mu'tazilite (free-thinking) wing of Islam, which gives reason a place beside tradition and revelation, and makes man the author of his own 2

actions (See his of

Development Theory,

New

The Spirit of Islam, p. 321, and Macdonald, The Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional

York, 1903, Part

III,

Chap.

1,

p. 119ff.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

66

founder of the Aligarh College, 1 could go no further, nor sec deeper into the facts, for they had no assurance of the open voice of God and his clear word, of a superhuman power and of an external revelation that did not proceed from the human heart" (Review of Religions, I, p. 311). the

And

since

was

society

was more

it

far

a part of his creed that early Muslim perfect than that of to-day, he held

in abhorrence the teaching of modern Muhammadan exponents of Islam, who recognize that polygamy was and is an evil, but hold that since it was an improvement on former practices in Arabia, and therefore a step upward for the early Muslims, Muhammad was justified in making it a part of Islam at that time, whereas Muslims to-day may not at all be justified in adhering to a custom that is

inferior to the higher ideal of

monogamy.

2

Ahmad, while

he was bound to admit

that polygamy was more nearly universal among early Muslims than to-day, argued that the fact was due to the early wars against the enemies of " the Muslim society was cut Islam, by reason of which off from their kith and kin and there could not be inter-

between the Muslims and the unbelievers" (Review of Religions, IV, p. 145). Hence polygamy prevailed to a greater extent than to-day, as a matter of marriage

women of Islam. And we read further " In the matter of ignoring these circumstances, not only are those Muslims to blame who, like Mr. Amir 'Ali and Mr. Dilawar Husain, both of whom belong to the Shia sect, look upon polygamy as an evil, but even those cannot be acquitted of the charge who, while defending polygamy as an institution needful for human society, like the late Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, have still expressed pleasure because it is less frequently practiced now, as if the early Muslims practiced it without any lawful necessity" (Review of Religions, IV, p. 145). justice to the

:

Ahmad's contention trasted not with

is

that polygamy should be con-

monogamy

but with celibacy.

Replying

—

Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) the progressive Indian founded in 1875 the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, U.P., and, in 1886, the Muhammadan Educational Conference. He was a thorough-going rationalist, and sought to accommodate Islam to modern ideas and Western education. See 1

Sir Syed

Muslim who

also pp. 133, 134. 2

See

Islamic

p.

The 231.

Spirit

of

Islam,

p.

192,

and Essays Indian and

AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM to

67

Mr. Dilawar Husain, a vigorous champion of monogamy Review of Religions says " He should bear in mind that according to Islam monogamy is

in Islam, the

:

while polygamy and celibacy are two necessary exceptions, If he has got prohibited, must bring about great mischief. any reason to attack this position, he is welcome to the discussion, but if he has got nothing but to repeat the old stories of Mr. Amir 'Ali and the

rule,

which,

if

others, he should better p.

assume silence" (Review of Religions, IV,

174).

One cannot help feeling that Ahmad's interest in this question of the existence of the supernatural over against If a rigid rationalism had a somewhat personal bearing. Muhammad's revelation in the seventh century was not to be considered supernatural to-day, there was little likelihood of any widespread recognition of the validity of Ahmad's claim in the twentieth century. To the Muhammadan Educational Conference, the Muhammadan 1 College at Aligarh, the All-India Moslem League, the Nadwat-ul-Ulama,

2

and

vival Associations," unceasingly hostile.

as

such termed

all

he

"

Muhammadan ReAhmad was

them,

One of his followers asks pertinently " " Where is the living model whose example we must imitate ? " I ask the Nadwa which view (Review of Religions,!, p. 321). Is it Islam in the light in of Islam is it going to offer to Europe ? which the late Sir Syed Ahmad took it, which represents God as :

.

worthless and

idle, denies

.

.

revelation, the

efficacy of

prayer,

angels,

describes the Holy Qur'an as a prophecy and supernatural signs, and " (Review of Religions, I, p. 329) dry book devoid of the miraculous ? .

Other views of these "Advanced Muhammadans," which Ahmad repudiates, were the abolition of purdah* the modification of rules regarding prayers, fasting, alms, Cf. p. 136.

" Council of the Learned," an association of educated maulvis North India, whose chief undertaking has been the carrying on of a theological seminary for the training of a new school of enlightened s

in

Muhammadan priests. The Urdu word

Its

headquarters are in Lucknow.

"curtain," used in India of the institution of veil imposed upon Muslim women by the "Agreement" (ijmd') of the Muhammadan community, and arising out of Muhammad's injunction, originally affecting his own wives, in Qur'an, XXIV, 32. It enjoins that a woman may appear unveiled only in the prcience of other women and of her husband and nearest male relatione 8

" the

"

for

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

68

"

Medina and pilgrimage, and the rejection of the later " He strongly supported the Muslim of the Qur'an. prohibition of the drinking of intoxicants, and required of his followers abstention from tobacco smoking as well.

Suras

We

shall

see,

when we come

to

consider

Ahmad's

attitude towards Christianity, how staunchly he stood his ground on such moot points as divorce, the veil, and the ceremonial law of Islam, spurning any attempt within Islam to adapt Muhammad's teaching and practice to present-day customs in Christian lands. Meantime, we

must turn from his picture of an ideal Islam, believed to have been brought into the world by Muhammad, to view the actual Islam which he saw around him, and which he 1

unsparingly denounced. Like the Jewish religion in the time of Jesus, he declared that Islam had become a religion of spiritless ceremonialism. " I have come at a time when the Muhammadan has, like society

the Jewish, been rotten to the core, and spirituality, and essence, having departed, nothing has remained the Muslims but the husk of lifeless ceremonies. .

which

is the lite the hands of ." (Review of

in .

Religions, III, p. 399).

In a letter written by Maulvi Abdul Karlm to the Nadwat-ul-Ulama, in reply to an invitation requesting the attendance of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at its annual gathering at Calcutta, it was said :

" Forms and ceremonials have again got the upper hand, while life to the life, the essence of the law, the spirit that gave form itself, is quite gone. Mosques and monasteries are full of bodies, Divine commandments are set at but the soul is not there. naught, and the corruption of licentiousness, atheism and transgression is widespread" (Review of Religions, I, p. 322).

the inner

.

.

.

As in the time of the pre-Islamic Arabs, social and moral conditions are beyond description: " It needs no demonstration to that Muhammadan prove

degene-

ration has passed all bounds, and that they are now standing on verge of the pit of fire from which a blessed and mighty hand 1

and searching treatment of this subject by a recent school, see Essays Indian and Islamic, Chapter Thoughts on the Present Situation," p. 2l3ff.

For

a frank

writer of a different

VII,

"

the

had

AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

69

drawn them back at first. The same dissentions and disputes, the same division in the camp, which marked the pre-Islamic Arabs, is wit-

among those who claim to be following the banner of Islam. Luxurious habits, transgressions, drunkenness, gambling and laziness, evils from which the mighty magnetizer had granted them a deliverance, have again the upper hand" (Review of Religions, I, p. 318). nessed .

.

.

There is now no real enthusiasm for Islam, only ignorant superstition, which shows itself in slavish imitation of the Christian civilization of the West, on the part of some, and a blind worship of tombs and saints, on the part of others.

"There can be no denying the fact that the vast majority Muhammadans who claim to believe in the true God have really faith at all

"

of

no

(Review

of Religions, I, p. 62). no doubt, a great change in the object of superstition, but that is of little use. If the 'ignorant' Muhammadans are to be blamed for an excessive reverence for tombs and miracles of saints, the advanced Muhammadans have a blind admiration for everything Western" (Review of Religions, III, p. 441).

" There

is,

'

'

The condition of Muslims is such that followers of other creeds are alienated rather than attracted. "Thus practical

life

if

is any obstacle to the path of Islam it is the Muslims themselves, and the sight of the same not

there

of the

only causes a repugnance in the followers of other creeds, but also alienates from Islam the feelings of the future generations of Muslims. The fact cannot be denied that in most Muslim families, it is to be found that the concern with religion is diminishing from father to son. Only a very small percentage of Musalmans can be found who are In most cases religion has sincerely convinced of the truth of Islam. been left merely a matter of custom and habit" (Review of Religions, XIV, p. 453).

One

cause of the decline of Islam and the deplorconditions among Muslim peoples is to be found in the forged traditions and fatwas 1 circulated whom Ahmad entertained no by the maulvis, for 2 admiration. able

social

1

See p. 16.

A

compilation of these fatwas, pronounced against

Urdu. Maulvl I la hi Baksh, of Lahore, Asd'-i-Musa ("Rod of Moses"),

Ahmad,

exists in

2

appalling alphabetical maulvis by Ahmad,

list

polemic against Ahmad, has given (pp. 143-146) an of the abusive epithets applied to Muslim in his

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

70

"

We

are commanded not to kill man, not to commit an outrage But some honour, and not to seize his property dishonestly. Muhammadans have broken all these commandments. They take away the life of an innocent person and never shudder at the inhumane deed. Empty-headed maulvies have circulated fatwas to the effect that it is lawful to seduce or seize the women of unbelievers or

upon

liis

heretics, and to steal social relations of the

and misappropriate

their properties. The are deplorable. Traditions have been fabricated that act like poison upon their moral conditions and break the Divine laws " {Review of Religions, I, p. 23). .

.

.

Muslims

The

present hard-heartedness of Muslims in their has led to a blood-thirstiness whose issue in Afghanistan was the murder of two followers of the decline

Ahmadlya "

faith.

think the chief reason of the decline of Muhammadans is that the feelings of love and sympathy are on the wane in their hearts. I do not judge all Muhammadans to be guilty of this hard-heartedness, but it cannot be denied that there are millions among them who are " (Review thirsty of the blood of their own kind of Religions, I, p.

I

340).

We

cannot vouch for the accuracy of the following description of the martyrdom of one of Ahmad's followers in a purely Muhammadan country. The parties referred to are Maulvi Abdul Latif and the Amir of Afghanistan :

—

" When he refused to listen to all expostulations, the Amir drew up the judgment with his own hands and caused it to be hung about

He then ordered his nose to be bored, and a cord to be passed through the hole, by which he was drawn to the place of execution. While he was carried in this state of torture, he was The Amir with his Muftis and mocked, abused and cursed. his neck.

When

Maulvis watched and enjoyed

this

buried to his waist in earth the

Amir once more approached him and

painful

sight.

he was

gave him promise of pardon on condition of his renunciation of his faith, but no words could tempt him to such a heinous deed as the renunciation of truth for the sake of a few days' comfort. Upon this there was again a tumult among the barbarous Qazis and Muftis that he was a Kafir (Unbeliever) and should be stoned to death without further delay. The Amir then ordered the chief Qazi to throw the first stone. The Qazi requested the Amir that, as he was the ruler, he should take the initiative. But the Amir excused himself, saying that it was a matter of religion, in which supreme authority lay with the chief Qazi. At last the first stone was thrown by the Qazi, which gave Maulvi Abdul Latif a fatal wound. The next stone was thrown by the unfortunate Amir, and after this there was a volley of stones from all sides, and within a few minutes the martyr disappeared in a heap of stones. Orders were then given by the Amir for watch to be kept on

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

71

dead body, because tie had said that he would rise after the sixth This occurred on the 14th July, 1903" (Review of Religions, p. 446).

his

day. II,

We now come to one of Ahmad's cardinal principles, and the point of sharpest divergence between his faith to wit, his and that of the majority of Muslims conception of jihad, or holy war. When Muhammad proclaimed the revelation "Kill them (the infidels) wherever ye shall find them," and " 1 he laid similar injunctions relating to holy warfare," less a sanction his followers only slightly binding upon 2 In particular, than the five "pillars" already mentioned. " War is permanently established a saying of the Prophet until the Day of Judgment," has come down, with the :

:

:

Qur'anic passages, establishing the fact that the Dar alDar al-harb and the Islam ("Abode of Islam") (" Abode of War ") remain in a state of fixed antagonism until, by reason of conquest, there shall be only the one Dar al-Islam. The observance, however, is said to be in force when any single tribe or party of Muslims is engaged in the jihad, and it is only in times of special need that the entire body of Muslims is expected to take part actively in When a country of the unbelievers is overcome, the war. the citizens are given their choice of accepting Islam, and paying the jizya (poll tax), or being put to death by the sword. Many Sufis hold that there is a greater jihad against a man's own rebellious nature, and a lesser jihad against unbelievers. Along with this doctrine there has become fixed in the average Muslim's mind by many traditions the belief that

the will

Mahdi who lead forth

is

to

come

the entire

and altogether victorious jihad. against this conception

—

late

related British

to

his

frequent

man

will be a

host of Islam

Ahmad a

of

who

world-wide fought early and

campaign

declarations of

blood,

in a

which

loyalty

to

was the

Government which might conceivably become the

1 Cf. Qur'an IX, 5, 6 IV, 76, 79 II, 214, 215; VIII, 39, and many traditions in the Mishkdtu'l Masablh. A convenient 42 resume may be found under jihad, in Hughes Dictionary of Isl&m, ;

;

;

:

pp. 243-248.

2

Cf. p. 57.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

72

active object of jihad as popularly conceived. Whether attitude, in a strictly Muhammadan country, would have been similar to that of the many " bloody Mahdis it is idle to surmise. Dr. Griswold has drawn attention to one potentially significant sentence in Ahmad's

Ahmad's

m

"five principle doctrines," published in a memorial to Sir William Mackworth-Young, under date of March 5th, 1898, as follows " To Islamic :

and

to

stances

truths with reasoning and preach heavenly signs, ghaza or jihad as prohibited under present circumregard^ "

Dr.

(Mirzd

G hula m Ahmad,

Griswold

compares

1

p. 11).

this

(Dr. Griswold's

to

the

bull

italics.)

of

Pope Gregory XIII, issued in 1580, which released the English Catholics from the obligation to resist Queen Elizabeth (imposed by the bull of Pope Pius V), and allowed them to continue their allegiance to her until they should be If Ahmad's powerful enough to rebel openly. phrase means anything. Dr. Griswold says, it must mean the same, but he generously adds,

"It is possible, however, that the phrase is meaningless, being used for the sake of literary padding, with an inadequate sense of its will give Mirza Sahib the benefit of the implication. doubt, especially since the phrase occurs nowhere else, so far as I know, in his " writings (Mirzd Ghulam Ahmad x p. 12).

We

Ahmad was much perturbed by Dr. Griswold's emphasis on that ambiguous sentence in his pamhlet, and issued a reply declaring that "present circumstances " are here contrasted with conditions at the time when jihad was sanctioned. This may indeed have been in Ahmad's mind, although it only emphasizes his divergence from orthodox Islam, which allows no possibility of jihad being prohibited until the end, although it may be suspended in different parts of the world at different times. If, then, jihad is no longer in force, according to Ahmadlya teaching, the question might be asked why it existed in 1

Such, for example, as Syed Ahmad, of Mysore and Hyderabad (1444-1504), Muhammed Ahmad, of Dongola (proclaimed Mahdi of the Sudan in 1878), Syed Ahmad, of Oudh and the Panjab (Conqueror of Peshawar in 1830), and Syed Muhammad Husain, of Persia, the founder of the secret order of the Senusites.

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

73

the early history of Islam as the Qur'an and authentic histories of the spread of Muhammadanism give abundant Ahmad's answer to this was that evidence that it did. Muhammad and the early Khalifas had recourse to the sword, first to protect themselves from barbarian enemies and, afterward, to punish the latter for their barbarities. Ahmadiya reasoning here is naive and interesting. It is hard to see how those who assert that the early enemies of Islam were given the option of conversion or death can in the same breath argue that Islam was not propagated

We

by force. " It must

quote

:

also be stated here that permission for self-defence and the enemies of Islam was not given to the Muslims until

murdering the Arabs had, on account of their excessive oppressions and outrages and innocent bloodshed, rendered themselves culpable and liable to be But a clemency was even then shown to such of punished with death. them as embraced Islam. The unity of religion established a relation It is here that of brotherhood, and all past wrongs were forgotten. some opponents of Islam have stumbled, and from this they draw the In conclusion that the new religion was forced upon the unbelievers. fact, the case is just the reverse of what the objectors have thought. was a favour to those who had it There is no compulsion here ;

apparently absurd to take for compulsion. They deserved to be murdered, not because they did not believe in the mission of the Prophet, but because they had murdered many an innocent soul. The extreme penalty of the law was upon them, but the mercy of the Gracious God gave them another chance of averting this merited capital punishment" (Review of Religions, I, pp. 20-21). rendered themselves liable to death.

this conditional

mitigation of just

It

is

punishment

This flies directly in the face of history, for every true account of the early history of Islam shows that Muhammad and the early Khalifas acted continuously on the offensive.

At the present time, Ahmad frequently remarked, Indian Muslims are happily situated under Christian rule just as, in the days of Muhammad, the pioneers, driven from Mecca by the authorities, found a safe and happy refuge for a time under the Christian king of Abyssinia. If among present-day Muslims the followers of Ahmad, with their avowed abhorrence and repudiation of the idea " of a bloody Mahdi," are to be considered, ipso facto, loyal to the Government, the implication is suggested that the generality of Muslims must, on the contrary, be

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

74

This imputation they naturally resented.

disloyal.

may be worth while

to

in

quote

full,

It

as giving the other

communication to the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette (May 22nd, 1907), written by a Muslim of the orthodox party, in reply to one of Ahmad's familiar "exhortations to loyalty," issued at a time when a number of disloyal outbreaks were occurring in North India side of the case, a

:

" The 'exhortation'

Ghulam Ahmad

his followers, of Mirza of a new sect, to refrain from to

Qadian, the founder participating in disloyal movements, which has appeared in your paper as an appendix to Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn's communication, is all very well inasmuch as it aims at promoting the loyalty of a certain section of but this noble object should on no account be the Indian population made the pretext by anyone to bring false accusations against those whom one does not like on other grounds. of

all

;

"

Referring to the execution of Abdul Latif, a follower of his, in Afghanistan, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad states in his 'exhortation' that the deceased was stoned to death by Amir Habibullah for the only fault he opposed the that, having become one of Mirza's followers, To doctrine of jihad,' in accordance with the Mirza's teachings. '

If, say the least of it, this is a very vague way of putting things. however, by saying so the Mirza means and by the general drift of his exhortation it appears that he means it that the view held by Amir

—

'

'

—

Habibullah Khan as well as by the general mass of Muhammadans in India and elsewhere, about the doctrine of jihad, is calculated to shake the loyalty of the Muhammadans in India, it should be emphatically declared that such an assertion is entirely unfounded, and is either based upon ignorance, or something else which is unworthy of a noble cause.

" It may Abdul Latif's

a

heretic

(

also be stated here, for the information of the public, that real fault, which cost him his life, was that he had become murt a dd) ,* an offence which under Islamic law is punish-

1 For the laws relating to the death penalty for the murtadd (an Dictionary of Islam, p. 16. In apostate, not a heretic) see Hughes " Multaka ul Abhar " a translation of the (Meeting of the Seas), a :

of canon law by Ibrahim of Alleppo, Constantinople, " man 1290, A.H., pp. 396-397, the following summary is given guilty of apostatizing is allowed a three days' respite if he desires it, after which, refusing to recant, he is to be killed. If he recants and So again apostatizes he is again given the opportunity to reconsider. in the third offence, but the fourth time he must be killed at once. His recantation must include renunciation of his espoused religion, as well as acceptance of Islam. He may lawfully be killed on sight, however, only the murderer in this case receives a reproof." I am indebted for the references and the translation to Prof. M.

Turkish text-book

:

H. Ananikian,

of

Hartford, U.S.A.

—

A

AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND ORTHODOX ISLAM

75

He became a heretic by following Mirza Ghulam able with death. a pronounced heretic among Muhammadans. (Signed)

Ahmad, Syed

.

Muhammad"

(Review

.

.

of Religions, VI, p. 230).

Ahmad may lived

saved

well have congratulated himself that he heretic was rule, and as a branded harsh fate meted out to his followers in

under British the

Muhammadan Afghanistan. If Ahmad depicted in dark

colours the decadence of Muslims, and, in bright colours, the joy and security of the question living under a modern Christian government, naturally follows whether he inferred from those facts the This superiority of the Christian civilization and ethics. he by no means did, arguing as follows "The Christians, who from the present material backwardness :

hastily draw the conclusion of the adherents to a high standard of progress, should cast a glance at the history of Christianity and the Christian we hope, people in the thirteenth century after Christ, and they will, Whatever the be convinced that their conclusions are illogical.

of

the

Muhammadan

Islam to raise

failure of

nations,

its

present material backwardness of the Muhammadans as_ compared with the nations which are generally known as Christians, it is a fact that never at any stage of their history they were steeped in such ignorance as the Christians in the Middle Ages, when Christianity was as old as Islam is at present. In fact, it cannot be denied that while with the progress of Christianity civilization has decayed and with its deterioration civilization has made progress among the Christian nations, the relations of Islam to civilization have been different

"

(Review

of Religions, VI, p. 424).

In other words, the pure principles of Islam brought to a high civilization early in its history, and the decadence of Islam is due to its departure from pristine ideals. Christian nations have attained to their present civilization not because, but in spite, of the ideals of Jesus 1 In Christ, in whose spirit and power Ahmad came.

Muslims

of Religions quoted, with remarks in a book called, The Awakening of Islam, by William Heaford, from the French

January,

1908, the

Review

seeming approval, some

Yahya Siddyk, in which the same logic is carried further, associating Islam, in its former and future perfection, with modern science, and Christianity with ignorance and obscurantism. read that this author

of

We

1

For a contradictory

Ahmadiya

position, see p. 99.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

76

"

Claims that the ideas of modern science, which have everywhere proved so fatal to Christianity and which in every European country are producing their natural fruit in European unbelief and triumphant rationalism, will serve to rehabilitate and vindicate Islam" (Review of Religions, VII, p. 43).

In the next chapter we shall deal in detail with Ahmad's view of Christianity and its founder, and in this connection we shall see that another charge made by Ahmad against modern Islam is its false belief in the taking up of Jesus into heaven, while another person, substituted for him, suffered death on the cross. It would seem that Ahmad painted the picture of present-day Islam as black as possible largely in his own If the decadence of Islam has been due to its interest. falling away from the teaching and example of the living Muhammad of the seventh century, its rejuvenation in the twentieth century can only come through the teaching and " example of a living magnetizer," to use a favourite AhmaThis person is the promised Messiah. diya expression. His sound and conclusive arguments, his manifestation of

heavenly wisdom and power, his mediation and intercan alone avail to counteract the present evil tendencies in the world, by bringing anew to faithless cession,

Muslims that certainty regarding divine truth, that perfect knowledge of God, in which, he held, salvation from sin consists.

CHAPTER

IV

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

We

have

already

seen

1

that

Ahmad

proclaimed

Messiah he had come in the spirit and power of Jesus Christ, and that his similiarity to Christ, in character and office, was such that he was called that

as

the

promised

"Jesus" in several revelations in order to confirm the In this chapter we resemblance not to say, the identity. have to look on the other side of the picture to determine his conception of the Jesus of history who, as Isd, is referred to in many passages of theQur'an. The question with which we are first confronted is the extent to which he drew on Muslim and Christian sources, respectively, for

—

i

the materials of the finished portrait of Jesus that was in his mind. In the Qur'an we find many ambiguous titles " and characteristics ascribed to 'Isa, 2 such as a word from " " " " Allah a spirit from Allah One (III, 40), (IV, 169), " " to Allah of brought near," i.e., worthy (III, 40), regard

He was prophet (nabV), a messenger (rasiil). have come with a Book, the Inj'd (Gospel), to have been born of the virgin, Mariam, by a direct creative act of Allah (III, 42), and to have performed many (III, 40), a

to

said

miracles, including certain legendary miracles in the cradle and in youth, and, as a climax, the raising of the dead 1

P. 31ff.

2

The word

corruption of the Hebrew satirically designated in Jewish writings, and which Muhammad probably accepted as of the name. There are Muslim For a genuine. many explanations discussion of this subject see The Moslem Christ, by S. M. Zwemer Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, Edinburgh, 1912, p. 33ff.

"Esau,"

the

'Isd

is

believed

name by which

to

Jesus

be

a

had been

;

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

78

(III, 43). Although there Qur'an which clearly refers

is

at least

one passage

in

the

to the death of Jesus (III, 47),

Muhammad unquestionably rejected the crucifixion, holding that Jesus was taken up alive into one of the There heavens, apparently in his earthly body (IV, 156). the Qur'an seems to leave him, and tradition takes up the tale with its prophecies of the second coming. From the above it appears that Muhammad had learned enough about the historic personage, Jesus Christ, probably from some heretical Christian teacher or monk, to lead him to give to 'Isd a unique place among those to whom he accorded prophetic rank. The picture he draws, however, is the barest sketch of a person, resembling rather a wax figure on which a number of descriptive titles have been hung than the vigorous and compelling personality, of flesh and blood, who dominates the New Testament. It wonder that Muslims have not been is, therefore, small attracted to the figure of 'Isd in the Qur'an, and have proceeded to construct still a third character (unhistorical, like Muhammad's 'Isd) out of Muslim and Christian traditions and legends a character which differs as widely from the 'Isd of the Qur'an as the traditional Muhammad differs from the historic character who stands 1 revealed in the pages of the Qur'an. As will appear more at length hereafter, Ahmad not only rejected the orthodox conception that Jesus was never crucified, but the taking up alive into heaven as well, seeking to prove that he eventually died like all ordinary Otherwise mortals, and was buried in Srinagar, Kashmir. he seems to_ have felt bound to accept the Qur'anic portrait of 'Isd as historical, but he was obviously not familiar with the legendary Jesus, described at length, for example, in the well-known Qisasu'l Anbiyd (" Stories of the Prophets"). However, it was, as we have shown (pp. 31, 32), the Jesus of history with whom he really believed himself to be in some mysterious way identical. A flesh and blood personality it was who figured continually in

—

1

Regarding

this

traditional

Jesus,

cf.

Zwemer, The Moslem

Christ, and Sell and Margoliouth, "Christ in Muhammadan Literature," in Hastings' Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, II, p. 882ff.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

79

his thinking and writing and who, if he had been able to analyze the content of his thinking on the subject, he would probably have discovered was for him actually the true, historic Jesus, whose life is recorded in the New

Testament

narrative.

His confusion of thought arose, of course, from a prior confusion regarding the Christian Scriptures and the Injil, referred to in the Qur'an as Allah's revelation, or the Book, given to 'Isa. There is no evidence that Muhammad did not regard this revelation as identical with the His Scriptures possessed by the Christians of his day. charging the Christians with error in doctrine came in time, however, to be taken by Muslims as referring to a wilful corruption by the Christians of the Injil, so that its statements could no longer be accepted as trustworthy on the ground that Muhammad had regarded them as inspired. Among later Muslim theologians and commentators the attitude toward the Christian Scriptures runs all the way from that of Ibn Hazm (d. 1063 A. D.), who held that the only authentic knowledge of 'Isd is that contained in the Qur'an, to Fakhr-ud-din ar-Razi (d. 1209 A.D.), who frequently used Gospel passages to illustrate the 1 Ahmad would perhaps have us believe that he Qur'an. held to the former of these extremes, but, after analyzing all of his references to the Scriptures and to Jesus, confused as they are, I am inclined to think that, in his subconscious mind at least, belief in the historicity (although not, of course, in the divine inspiration) of the New Testa-

ment

narrative prevailed. For practical purposes it would hardly be unfair to say that he admitted as true, temporTestament as were needed to arily, such parts of the reinforce the argument in which at any moment he

New

happened inspired

to be engaged. of God he

Word

That none

of

it

was convinced,

could be the for the reason

it had been translated out of the original tongues, and on the orthodox ground that the texts were known to be

that

"

1 See footnote to article, Christ in Muhammadan Literature," by E. Sell and D. S. Margoliouth, in Dictionary of Christ and thr

Gospels,

II, p.

885.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

80 of errors

full

Thus

tians.

due to deliberate corruption by the Chrishe writes:

"Jesus Christ had

imparted

pure and simple teachings to his

disciples in the shape of Injil, which was deliberately corrupted subsequent so-called followers to such an extent that the present Christians can in no way be identified with the God of the

by his

God

of

Son

of

Mary." In order to cast doubt on the historicity of the Christian Scripture in the minds of his readers, he liked to quote from the Encyclopedia Biblica, of which he possessed a copy, seeking to convey the impression (possibly his own opinion) that the views of a certain extreme school of German critics of the last century, therein contained, are It is those of established Christian scholarship to-day. clear that he did not possess an historic sense sufficient to " make him in any degree a true higher critic" on his own account, nor was he willing to be bound by any one canon He of criticism, even had he been able to recognize it. felt that he was free to pick and choose, as suited his purposes, among the writings of those orthodox and In the liberal Christian scholars to which he had access.

Review of Religions

for

May, 1903,

for

example,

we

read

:

"The

most trustworthy book containing the views of higher critics, and written by professed Christians, is the Encyclopedia Biblica, in which it is stated in column 1881 (Vol. II) that in all the Gospels " there are only five absolutely credible passages about Jesus (Review of Religions, II, p. 194).

are then given as Mark 10: 17; Matt. 12: 31; 3: 21; Mark 13: 32; Mark 15 34; and Matt. The last two are parallel passages, and only the 27: 46. latter is mentioned in the original article in the Encyclopedia Biblica. These five were considered historical by the 1 author because they were opposed to any theory of Jesus' sinlessness and divinity, and, therefore, would not have

These

Mark

:

been forged by

Ahmad

his disciples.

As we

prove that both Christians and conceived of Jesus. 1

shall see, however, his effort to

did not limit himself to these texts in

Prof. P.

W.

Muslims have wrongly

Schmiedel, author of the article, "Gospels," & Co., New York and London.

Encyclopedia Biblica, Macmillan

in

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

81

introductory remark should be made at claimed that his reason for attacking Jesus was to be found in the alleged Christian attack upon Muhammad. If Christians did not like his words about Christ they were to blame, because they themselves had Moreover, there was an inherent maligned Muhammad. connection between the two attacks, for the sinlessness of 1 If all the prophets stands or falls on the same ground. Muhammad was not (as Ahmad believed he was) sinless, then neither was Jesus, and if (since) Jesus was not sinless, Ahmad was prepared to make out as bad a case for him as possible. Finally, Ahmad frequently said that he was not making the charges on his own account, but was only

One

further

this point.

repeating Christians.

Ahmad

made by Jews and some professed What, he asked, could the Christians say in

attacks

times he declared that they could say and in attacks were unanswerable the that nothing, making that assertion he certainly so far associated himself with the attacks and aspersions as to justify us in reply

?

Many

;

whatever he and giving, as approved Ahmadlya doctrine, Furthermore, his editors have written about Jesus Christ. the animus lurking in the statements is scarcely disguised at all, and in more than one place he gives as his own some of the criticisms which we quote below. It is not a pleasant task to write this chapter of Ahmadlya doctrine, but it is necessary since it is fundamental to a right understanding of the movement and it may even be desirable, ;

on wider grounds, since

Ahmad

and

his editors

seem

to

ages and nations, in so far as it was accessible to them, in order to ascertain, and to unite in one mighty and virulent attack, all the efforts

have canvassed the literature of

all

1 Orthodox Muslim doctrine, in general, declares that all the from sin,'' but in the prophets have been miraculously "preserved is Qur'an, where shortcomings of different prophets are cited, " Jesus " aided with the Holy Spirit (II, 81), alone described as uniquely

while Muhammad asserts his own likeness to all sinful human beings One in need of God's pardon (Qur'an XIV, 42; XLI, 57).

(Mishkat, Bk. I, Ch. 3) declares that of all created In another his mother were without sin. (Mishkat, Bk. XXIII, Ch. 12) we have Muhammad admitting his own sinfulness, but unable to charge Jesus with sin.

Muslim

tradition

beings only Jesus and

6

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

82

that have been made to besmirch and belittle the character of Jesus of Nazareth. Of the stories of the unique birth of Jesus, as given in the Qur'an (XIX, 22-34; XXIII, 52), Ahmad makes no He seeks, however, in various ways, categorical denial. '" had neither to belittle their importance. Adam, too, " 1 thousands of worms (are) brought father nor mother "j into existence without any father"; "learned physicians of the Greek and Indian schools have shown the possibility of a child being formed in the mother's womb " without the seed of man (Review of Religions, I, p. 72). John's birth, like that of Jesus, had a supernatural element, " these births but, far from proving John and Jesus divine, were in fact a sign that the gift of divine revelation was For Jesus had no departing from the house of Israel. Israelite father, and the parents of John were not in a " condition to beget children (Review of Religions, II, 2 In numerous passages (for example, Review of p. 100 ). .

.

.

usually under cover of quoting other writings, aspersions are cast on the character of the mother of Jesus, which we cannot give here, but which, together with much of the harsh criticism of Jesus, have evoked bitter and crushing replies

Religions,

I,

from Jewish

144ff),

p.

or

from orthodox Muslims.

3

We

pause only to mention one curious argument in this connection, to the effect that "The qur'anic statement that Jesus had no father cannot serve as a weapon in the hands of a Christian controverThe revelation of the Qur'an is not with him a sialist. Divine Revelation, but the fabrication of a man" (Review

The Qur'an

declares that

Adam,

like Jesus,

Allah breathed into him his

direct creative act.

was born by a

spirit.

See Qur'an,

111,52.

The supernatural birth of John (Yahya) is described in the XXI, 89. Qur'an, XIX, llff 3 Cf. p. 104 for the British Government's action taken against an Ahmadlya periodical because of a scurrilous article which it pubIt is worth noting that lished treating of the virgin birth of Jesus. Professor Siraj-ud-DIn states, in the article by him to which allusion is made on p. 46, that Nur-ud-Din, the successor of Ahmad, told him during Ahmad's lifetime that he himself believed that Jesus' birth was a natural one, but that he would not admit this in Ahmad's presence 2

;

for fear of incurring the displeasure of his chief.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

83

on what

ground of Religions, I, p. 144). One wonders, then, Ahmadiya writers constantly quote the Bible, in confirma-

of some of Ahmad's claims and teaching, when in present form it is for them no more of a divine revelation than is the Qur'an for the Christians. Regarding the miracles of Jesus, related in the New Testament and, in general, attested by the Qur'an, with numerous differences and additions, there exists the same

tion its

in

ambiguity

apparent

the

mind

of

Ahmad's

followers.

actually asserted that Jesus performed no " Miracles are the only evidence we are told, but miracles, of is supported, but to speak of Jesus on which the Deity

Nowhere

is

it

his miracles as proof of his divinity is to produce one assertion in support of another. They lack the requisite evidence with which their own truth can be established.

themselves no legs to stand upon, and it is, to expect them to support something There is no reason why they should not be regarded else. as marvels and prodigies, carrying no more weight than the fictions recorded in the Puranas" (Review of Religions,!, denied having p. 453). And again it is said that Jesus himself performed any miracles when he declared, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall " no sign be given unto it (Matthew 12 39). At times, however, the miracles of Jesus are admitted for the sake

They have

therefore, absurd

:

of proving the sinfulness of the acts involved, as in the first miracle at Cana, the cursing of the fig-tree, and the destruc-

tion of the herd of swine into which the evil spirits had been sent. " " of Jesus' miracles neurotic theory In one place the 1 the from is Encyclopedia Biblica, in accordance quoted with which those miracles only are accepted which might be attributed to psychical influence on nervous maladies. In other passages the miracles are said to have been those afflicted with the spiritual in their character, healing

In various places we read that, leprosy of sin, el cetera. after all, the miracles of Jesus were no greater than those of the

Old Testament prophets, who must be considered 1

Article on

"

Gospels,"

Vol.

II,

Column

1885.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT me

as

much

as Jesus, on the basis of miracles wroi miracles are in one place called

/fact Jesus'

" Only imitations, much inferior to the original works of v done by the Israelite prophets in abundance" (Review of Religi, p. 196).

An

instance of Jesus' inferiority to Elijah is satirically gested in that " Elijah was honourably taken up to the heavens in a but Jesus Christ had not even a donkey to ride upon in his ascent, which by no means could have been an easy task" »

of Religions,

Again,

it is

means

of

I,

p.

454).

said that the miracles his

divine

power

far

wrought by

Muhamm

exceeded the miracl

Jesus, the

only miracle of the latter referred to in passage being the one (suggested to Muhammad, thought, by a similar story in the apocryphal Gospe Thomas the Israelite) found in the Qur'an (III, 43), ^ relates that Jesus created a bird out of clay. Ir immediately following sentences of the Qur'an the mil of the healing of the blind and lepers and the raising o dead are narrated, but the Ahmadlya writer does not refer to

We

i

ela

them.

come now

whom Ahmad

to consider the character of Jesuf

wrote

plainly,

"In

the same

manner

Promised one (Ahmad) has inherited the perfection " Jesus Christ {Review of Religions, II, p. 67). Here th is the same apparent distinction, about which he him. seemed never clear, between a vague, ideal Muslim Je< (not exactly the 'Isd of the Qur'an) and a human, si Jesus appearing in the writes " If the sinlessness of a

Christian

Gospels, of

whom

:

person is to be inferred from the faul ness of his conduct as admitted by his hostile critics, we would them to the Jewish writings, which seriously attack Jesus and mother's conduct 1 and if it is to be inferred from the assertion of person himself, we would refer them to the Gospel text where J confesses that he is not good or sinless" (Review of Religi j

I,

P

.

207). 1

Cf. p. 86, Note 1.

HE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY baptism by John

•'

-

ision of sinfulness.

"

Jleged

85

held to be one proof of his will here briefly recapitulate

is

We

sins of Jesus ":

runkenness.

This

is

inferred from the institution of

acrament

of the Lord's Supper, from his being called gluttonous man and a winebibber," and from his

ng the water into wine

the

at

wedding

ew

of Religions, I, p. 114). "gar abuse of the Jews, who, in

" return,

in

Cana

showed

a

toward him far surpassing that of any of the a priestly and missionary classes, however civilized tter may be in appearance" {Review of Religions,

y

571).

There

is not the least indication in the Gospels that the priests sed a single abusive word for Jesus in opposition to all this This contrast throws much yl deluge of calumny and abuse. dit upon the morality of Jesus" (Review of Religions, I,

times Ahmad deals less gently with the Jews who " :uted Jesus, and on account of the wickedness of hearts, failed to recognize the Reformer, and declared to be a false prophet and pretender" (Review of

iher

•

gions, II, p. 55). persecuted and tortured him, and at last brought him The priests in both alleged malcontentedness. s (Jesus' and Ahmad's) fail to effect their evil designs, and the idence ot God saves his chosen servants" (Review of Religions,

"They

'

iiw

for

.

.

.

2>.55).

nad also frequently excuses his own denunciation of 'inemies on the analogy of Jesus' arraignment of the <es and Pharisees. 'owardice. The evidences alleged to prove this trait (a) his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, )ined with the statement in Hebrews 5 7, which is rpreted to mean that because of his prayer he was " d from death (though another passage asks, Can in admit of the All-knowing God to have prayed the 5 night long without being listened to?"); (b) his ng himself in the garden" {Review of Religions, II, and ') in the attempt to escape arrest and crucifixion

—

:

;

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

86 (c) his cry

sabachthani

on the cross (Matt. 27: 46) "Eli, " (Review of Religions, IV, p. 355).

Eli,

lama

Referring to the marriage Disrespect to his mother. we read " Jesus also insulted his mother on this occasion, and the apology, that he was under the influence of wine, cannot excuse him, for on another occasion (Matt. 12: 48), when to all appearances in a sober state, he behaved even more rudely towards her" (Review of Reliat

Cana,

gions,

I,

:

p.

463)

.

In this conFriendliness with women of ill-repute. nection reference is made to the incident narrated in Luke " too familiar connections of Jesus with 7: 37, 38, to the Mary Magdalene, who, they say, was of a dubious character" (Review of Religions, I, p. 141) and to an incident said 1 to be quoted from The Jewish Life of Christ that Jesus "once praised the beauty of a woman, and upon this one of the elders, who had taken Jesus in tutorship, enraged at this impropriety of his pupil's conduct, cut off " all ties of love with him (Review of Religions I, p." 141). It is said that accusations like those above are freely published and circulated, not only in the streets of London but in distant corners of the world, India itself being no

exception" (Review of Religions, I," p. 120). Blasphemy. He is said to have slighted Almighty God by making himself his equal, and holding his sacred name " in disrespect (Review of Religions, I, p. 141). And again, "The most disgusting and blasphemous words attributed

which contain his assertion of Godhead. of the knowledge that he was born womb" (Review of Religions,!, p. 452) Here,

to Jesus are those

This he did from Mary's

in spite

.

we

however, tradiction.

when he

are

When said,

faced with another inexplicable conthere is need of proving that Jesus

"Why

callest

thou

me good?

There

is

book. For the Jewish attitude toward Jesus " Christ the article by R. Travers Herford, on in Jewish Literature," Hastings' Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, p. 879; and to the article, "Jesus of Nazareth," by Dr. S. Krauss, in The Jewish Encyclopedia, Funk & Wagnalls, New York, Vol. These articles show by contrast how one-sided and unfair VII, p. 160. was Ahmad 's reference to Jewish writers as authority for his own arraignment of the character of Jesus. 1

I

have not seen

the reader

is

referred

this

to

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY "

none good but One, that is God (Mark 10: 18) that he himself was God, we are told:

87

did not

mean

"If Jesus had distinctly put forth his claim to Godhead before the Jews, he would have been regarded by them as an heretic and the most sinful of men, who, by the law of Moses, deserved to be put to death" (Review of Religions,

And

again,

more

I,

p.

positively

110). :

should be borne in mind that the attribution of the claim of divinity to Jesus Christ is a false accusation against him, for he never made the extravagant assertion that he was actually God. The only reasonable inference that can be drawn from his words is that he claimed to be an Intercessor with God, and no one has ever denied the interces" sion of the prophets with God (Review of Religions, III, p. 416). '

It

(

As Isd

Qur'an does not claim intercession must be a reference to the words found

for

in the

himself, this

Hebrews 7: Finally,

25, here accepted by

Ahmad

Ahmad, who claimed

to

as authentic.

have

in 1

had personal

communications from Jesus, said: "In short, I hold him in abomination, who,

being born of a says that he is God, although I declare Jesus Christ to be free from the charge that he ever claimed divinity for himself. With me such a claim is the most horrible sin and an arch-heresy, but I, at the same time, know that Jesus was a good and righteous servant of God, who

woman,

never presumed

We

to assert

Godhead " (Review

of Religions,

I,

p.

348).

leave our readers to solve the riddle.

It is said (a) that False claim to prophetic office. since Elias had not come previous to Jesus, according to Jewish prophecy, Jesus could not have been the Messiah (b) that the Kingdom which the true Messiah would set ;

temporal Kingdom upon earth, and Jesus, he could not fulfil this prophecy, tried to " a few assertions which practically satisfy the Jews with meant nothing" (Review of Religions, I, p. 152); (c) that " Greater works his own prophecies proved false, to wit (1) " than these shall ye do" (John 14: 12); (2) To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23: 43); whereas he was to spend the next three days in hell; (3) "This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled" (Matthew 24: 34).

up was to be

a

realizing that

1

See p. 36, Note 3.

/

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT Over against this we have to place the fact, already 1 alluded to, that Ahmad grounded his claim to have come " in the spirit and power" of Jesus (Review of Religions, II, p. 192) on the fact that John had come in "the spirit and power of Elias " (Luke 1 17); and he explains the " There be some standing here prophecy analogous to (3) :

who

they see the Son of Man 16: 28) as a vindication of Ahmadlya teaching that Jesus did not die on the cross, but was still living at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Other prophecies referring to the second coming point to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and, we are told, " Blessed are they who out of respect for the word of Jesus free shall not taste of

coming

themselves from

death

till

Kingdom" (Matt.

in his

all

stumble" (Review

prejudice in considering this of Religions,

II,

p.

point and do

not

192).

Plagiarized teachings. " The Gospel teachings have no

superiority over the teachings of the earlier prophets. The teachings contained in the Gospels have, on the other hand, been taken from earlier sources, including the Talmud. The Jews have always forcibly asserted that there is no originality in the Gospel teachings, but that they are only plagiarisms from Jewish sacred books" {Review of Religions, II, p. 167). " It is hardly an exaggeration to say that whatsoever we learn from the Old Testament to be characteristic of the prophets is proved " by a study of the Gospels to be characteristic of Jesus {Review of

Religions, V, p. 477) " Jesus was no more than a humble preacher of the law of Moses, " (Review notwithstanding the extravagances of those who deify him of Religions, I, p. 239). " He called the prophets and saints that went before him thieves and robbers (John 10: 8), notwithstanding that his teachings were .

all

borrowed from them " (Review of Religions,

On

the other hand,

answer Ahmad,

we

I,

p.

451).

continuing to allow

are told

Ahmad

to

:

" Every new age stands in need of a new reformer and a new To take one instance only, the Mosaic law laid magnetizer. stress upon vengeance only in all cases, while Jesus taught uncondiBoth these teachings were tional forbearance and non-resistance. required by the special circumstances of the time when they were As the law of Moses goes to one extreme by laying too much taught. emphasis on retaliation, the teaching of Jesus goes to the other extreme by enjoining forgiveness and pardon of the offender in all " cases (Review of Religions, II, p. 167). .

.

.

1

P. 28.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

89

Impracticability of central teaching of non-resistance. frequently contrasts this teaching with Muhammad's more aggressive and warlike policy, declaring that "It tends to corrupt the morals of the oppressor by emboldening him in the commission of evil, and endangers " the life of the oppressed (Review of Religions, I, p. 159). Nevertheless, the wars of Christendom are charged up to the example and precept of Christ: " But in of his did not

Ahmad

apparent helplessness, Jesus despise that hath no sword, let him sell his remarked on one occasion, and the later history of Christianity shows clearly that however wide may have been the departure of the Christian nations from the other teachings of Jesus, they have been quite faithful to their Master in acting up to the " above injunction {Review of Religions, V, p. 390). spite

He the sword altogether. 1 garment and buy one,' he '

This is constantly insisted Helplessness and failure. upon, in contrast to the ultimate worldly success of Muhammad, the argument being that God visits with The taunt worldly success his true leaders among men. of the Jews (Matt. 27: 42) is repeated, that if Jesus had been God he would have saved himself from his enemies. " Can we reasonably imagine the All-powerful God arrested by weak human beings, put into custody, cJuiluoed 2 from one district to another, beaten and smitten on the face clutches and at the mercy of a few

Religions,

I,

p.

112)

by constables, and individuals"

the of

.

Again we behold the strange contradiction.

Ahmad

in

(Review

When

arguing in favour of his theory that Jesus escaped from the cross, and knew beforehand that he would escape, one reason given is that "Jesus knew it never destroy him and his full well that God would mission, but that ultimately success would crown his is

efforts" (Revieiv of Religions, II, p. 192). Passing over some minor matters relating to

Jesus'

character, such as loss of temper, inconsistency and provincialism, we come to the fundamental question of his death. Ahmad declared, unqualifiedly and repeatedly that if Christians were right in their assertion that Jesus died and rose again, Christianity was true and he was an 1

Luke 22

:

36.

•

A common

Urdu word, meaning " made

to

go."

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

90

It is therefore important to examine in detail impostor. his alleged proof of Christianity's error in this respect. His position may be summarized as follows Jesus did not die on the cross, but was taken down by his disciples in a swoon, and healed within forty days by :

1

miraculous ointment called, in Persian, Marham-i-'Isd. He then travelled to the East on a mission to the ten lost tribes of the children of Israel, believed by Ahmad to be the peoples of Afghanistan and Kashmir, and finally died at the age of 120, and was buried in Khan Yar Street, in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. The alleged proofs of this unique theory are conAs proof that Jesus tradictory and utterly unsound. " did not die on the cross, the fanciful swoon theory," ridiculed by Strauss and now discarded, was adduced to the effect that Jesus, whose legs were not broken, was taken down from the cross in an unconscious condition by his disciples, and later revived, a fact held to have been confirmed by the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, which were those of a living man, not a disembodied In other passages Ahmad seems to be advocating spirit. in part the so-called "fraud theory," which held that Jesus' dead body was removed from the tomb by his disciples to make possible their assertion that he had risen from the dead. Ahmad would modify the theory to make the body still alive when removed from the tomb, so that Jesus could then be spirited out of the country within

a

forty days.

In support of this theory Jesus' prediction in

Matt. 12: 40 is quoted, declaring that, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." By interpreting the analogy literally Ahmad asserted that Jesus must have been alive continuously in the tomb, as was Jonah in the belly of the fish. The passage in Matt. 16: 28, "There be some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the

Son

preted by

of

Man

Ahmad,

coming

in

we

have

as

1

his

kingdom," was

seen

Cf. p. 41.

(p.

88),

to

inter-

mean

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

91

that Jesus must still have been alive at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. Ahmad also argued that if Jesus had actually risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, as Christians believe, Christianity to-day would not be spiritually dead, as he declared that it is. So much for the escape from death on the cross. Even more fantastic are the "proofs" of Jesus' subsequent activities in the East and death and burial in Kashmir. First of all there is the a priori reason, based " I am not sent but unto the lost on Jesus' declaration " Who and (Matt. 15: 24). sheep of the house of Israel :

where,

Ahmad

asked,

were these "

lost

sheep

"

?

He

of the ten lost tribes replied that Jesus referred to the 1 These tribes, he asserted, original children of Israel. were the ancestors of the inhabitants of Afghanistan and

whom Jesus must therefore have gone with The Hebrew characteristics and antecedents Gospel. of the Afghans and Kashmiris were brought forward to substantiate the declaration, which did not originate with Ahmad, that they represent the remnants of the original Kashmir, to

his

Kingdom 1

of

Israel.

2

It

was

insisted

upon by Ahmad

now conceded by most

scholars that the search for the ten a fanciful quest based on the false assumption that the entire population of the Kingdom of Israel was carried away captive by Sargon II, King of Assyria, and that it then maintained its distinct ethnic peculiarities. Only a small part of the population is now thought to have been exiled to Mesopotamia and Media (I Chronicles 5 26), and it was doubtless soon absorbed in the native population. It is

lost tribes is

:

See Cornhill History of the People of Israel, Chicago, 1898, or any other authoritative Old Testament history. :

p.

126

;

2 The following paragraph from the article on Afghanistan in the Encyclopedia Britannica, Ed. 1910, Vol. I, p. 315, will serve to " But the show what basis there was for Ahmad's contention Hebrew ancestry of the Afghans is more worthy at least of consideration, for a respectable number of intelligent officers, well acquainted and though with the Afghans, have been strong in their belief of it the customs alleged in proof will not bear the stress laid on them, undoubtedly a prevailing type of the Afghan physiognomy has a character strongly Jewish. This characteristic is certainly a but it is shared, to a considerable extent, by the remarkable one Kashmiris (a circumstance which led Bernier to speculate on the :

—

;

;

Kashmiris' representing the ten lost tribes by the Tajik people of the Badakshan."

of Israel),

and,

we

believe,

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

92

that, since there is no record of Jesus' having visited those regions before his crucifixion, he must have done so afterward, a fact borne out by his words in John 10 16, " And other sheep I have which are not of this fold they shall hear my voice." So much for the a priori argument. As far as the historic evidence that Jesus came out to the East is concerned, Ahmad cited as his primary authority Nicolas Notovitch's Unknown Life of Christ, in which the author claimed to have seen an ancient manuscript in Tibet, describing a journey of Jesus to India for purposes of study during the interval between his visit to the Temple at Jerusalem :

.

.

.

and his baptism by John. Even had this story of Notovitch not been exploded by Prof. J. A. Douglas, of x Agra, in 1895, it is difficult to see how Ahmad could think that

a visit of Jesus to India in his youth, before his ministry began, lends any support to the theory that he passed his later life, and died, in Kashmir.

active

Two

other stories, introduced by Ahmad as evidence were the well-known tale of Barlaam and 2 Josaphat, in which various traditions are related with respect to an Indian prince (supposed to have been and Buddha), variously styled Josaphat and Yus Afat an ancient tale translated into Urdu, Ikmdl-ud-Din ("Perfection of Faith"), now out of print, written by a Persian historian, Muhammad Ibn-i-Bahwaih, in the fourth century of Islam, which narrates the Jiistory of an Indian prince and saint named Yus Asaf, who wandered to Kashmir, where he died. In neither case did the hero, Yus Afat or Yus Asaf, an Indian, have any for his theory,

;

N. Farquhar Modem Religious Movements in India, York, 1915, pp. 140, 141. Also Prof. Douglas' article in The Nitieteenth Century for April, 1896. 2 Cf. article " Barlaam and Josaphat," in The New S chaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Funk & Wagnalls, New York, I, p. 485, where the origin of the story, falsely ascribed by some to John of Damascus, is traced to an Indian story, the Lalitavistara, composed some time between the beginning of the Christian era and 600 A.D. The version of the story in the Qadian library, which I have seen, is that contained in Volume X of the Bibliothcque de Carabas. 1

Cf. J.

Macmillan,

:

New

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

93

connection whatever with Palestine or that section of the for identifyis no shadow of a reason ing him with Jesus, even if we admit the bare possibility that there actually was such a man, who lived in India proper, or in Kashmir, many centuries ago, and at his death was buried in Srinagar, Kashmir. " " This brings us to Ahmad's culminating proof of his that the tomb of the alleged "great discovery" theory, In the Jesus is on Khan Yar Street, in Srinagar, Kashmir.

world, so that there

summer

of 1913, after considerable difficulty in learning exact location, I visited this tomb, resembling hundreds of other tombs of Muhammadan saints, with rags tied to the inner gate by those (both Muslims and Hindus) who had left money with the keeper to pay for che intercession The Muslims of the city, of the occupant of the tomb. in the this tomb was for the most part, hold that 1 possession of the Hindus until the time of Bulbul Shah, who decided that it was the tomb of a Muhammadan Since that time prophet and honoured it as such. Muslims have been in possession, calling it the tomb of This tomb, an unknown prophet, named Yus Asaf. Ahmad declared it had been miraculously revealed to him, The first proof he brought is the tomb of Jesus Christ. forward was that the Kashmiris believed it was the tomb of a prophet, and since Muhammad was the last of the prophets, and is known to be buried in Medina, this must have been the tomb of his predecessor, the prophet Jesus. But the more important proof had reference to the name Yus Asaf. Ahmad said that the word Yus, or Joseph, the Josaphat to whom reference has been made, was 2 called the original name of Jesus. a corruption of Yasu, The word Asaf he declared to be the Hebrew word asaf, to gather, which he said had reference to Jesus' mission its

as the gatherer of the ten lost tribes. 1 The popular name of Syed Abdur Rahman, who, Kashmir from Turkestan with 1,000 fugitives in the

century,

is

given the credit of establishing the

arriving in fourteenth

Muhammadan

Kashmir. Cf. "Islam in Kashmir," by H. A. Walter, World, IV, p. 340. 1 Yesu is the name for Jesus in Urdu.

religion

in

in

The Moslem

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

94

is the direct testimony of the Kashmiris In the pamphlet, An Important Discovery Regarding Jesus Christ, published by the Anjuman-iIshd at-i-Isldm, we read that the testimony of "ancient

Finally, there

themselves. l

documents

of unquestionable authenticity and veracity receives considerable support from the statements of those who have read with their own eyes an old, now effaced, inscription upon the tomb, and who assert that it is the tomb of Jesus Christ." " The incontrovertible testimony And, later on, afforded by the tomb itself, backed as it is by the

unanimous oral testimony of hundreds of thousands of men, and by the written evidence of ancient documents, becomes, in our opinion, too strong to be resisted by the most determined of sceptics." No such testimony and no such documents exist. The above paragraphs contain all the evidence on which Ahmad and his followers soberly undertake to re-write for us the history of the Christian era. Coming to Ahmadiya conceptions of Christian find them vague and distorted. The doctrines, we 1

doctrine of the Trinity Ahmad attacked with a virulent animosity, which, considered in connection with his access to Christian writings, makes his mis-statement of the true Christian position seem deliberate rather than In different passages the Trinity is said unintentional. to be denied by nature, human nature, the Jewish A familiar prophets, the Qur'an, and by Christ himself. argument is the following: "Everything, in its simplest form, has been created by God in a spherical or round shape, a fact which attests to and is consistent with the the Unity of God. Had the doctrine of the Trinity been true, all these things should have been created in a " (Review of Religions, I, p. 65). triangular shape .

.

.

1 Regarding the Trinity, Muhammad in the Qur'an represents Jesus as answering in the negative the question asked him by Allah: Oh, Jesus, Son of Mary, hast thou said unto mankind, Take me and my mother as two gods beside God'?" (Qur'an V, 116). He apparently here conceived of the Christian Trinity as consisting of the Father, Jesus and Mary.

—

'

'

'

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY The a recent

doctrine of the Trinity writer

Ahmadiya

thus

is

summed up

95

by

:

"

Christianity requires one to accept the enigma that there are Godheads, who are separate, at the same time one that each of them is absolutely perfect in himself, though it is a menta impossibility to think of more than one being who is absolutely perfect" (Review of Religions, XV, p. 440). three

;

There are many ironical references to the Persons of the Trinity, such as the following, in exculpation of the

who (for purposes of Ahmad's immediate argument) crucified Jesus " If the three of Godhead ever on a

Jews

:

matter, they persons agreed agreed upon this that the Sen should suffer upon the Cross. The Father wished it, the Son wished it, and the Holy Ghost wished it, and none of the three was a sinner on that account. Why are the poor Jews then condemned for wishing the same thing ? Moreover, the Jews are not alone involved in the matter, the Gods themselves, including the one that suffered, had first of all come to the decision " (Review of Religions, I, p. 457) .

.

.

.

One more

reference will suffice

"The manner

is

in

very amusing

:

which the three Persons

of

Trinity shifted the responsibility of the reformation of mankind from There was the Father, who, having a certain one to the other. superiority, in name if not in reality, thought of restoring man to his one should think it means the savage state, for the original state human progress has been gradual from a lower to a higher stage 1 but he found his hands tied by the strong manacles of justice. Out of when he came into the filial reverence the Son offered himself, but world, he went away with the empty consolation that the third partner

—

—

come and teach them all truths and guide them into all truth. third Person, being only a pigeon, found himself unable to undertake the teaching of truths, but thought he had done his duty by teaching the apostles a few dialects, which they were thus able to speak

shall

The

stammeringly

"

(Review

of Religions,

I,

Could deliberate blasphemy go

p.

280).

to greater lengths? to set forth fairly

Neither is any attempt made the Christian position regarding the Atonement, rejected by and logically. It Muhammad, or to attack it consistently " " is repeatedly referred to as the blood-bath (Review of Christians a fancied Religions II, p. 135), which gives " has emboldened in vice immunity from sin, and hence *

This evolutionary conception

is

foreign to orthodox Islam.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

96

who trust in it " {Review of Religions, II, " declared to have struck at the very root of the p. 136). purity of heart among the general body of its indorsers" most

of those It

is

A

136). contrary theory, which eternally for every sin, is attributed to Christians by Ahmad, in a lecture delivered at

(Review of Religions

II, p.

makes every Christian pay Lahore

in

1904

:

"The

Christians also entertain the belief that a man shall be condemned to eternal hell for every sin, and that his tortures will know no end. But the wonder is that, while proposing endless torture for other men, the Son of God is made to bear punishment for three days This unrelenting cruelty to others and improper leniency to his only. own Son is absolutely inconsistent with the mercy and justice of God" 1

(Review

of Religions, III, pp. 327, 328).

The

doctrine

dealt with '

of

the

Incarnation

is

thus summarily

:

Christianity requires one to believe God begat a Son to whom he " of the universe (Review of Religions,

made over the godhood XV, p. 440).

In spite of Ahmad's dislike of Christian missionaries, of a piece with his inherent hatred of all professional men 2 of religion, including Muslim mullahs and maulvls, he

some

felt

if

respect,

not

admiration,

for

the

Christian

missionary organization. " The huge sums of money

that are spent, the bulky volumes and are written, the restless activity of the Christian evangelistic societies, and the plenty of resources they have in hand, are quite unknown in the history of any other movement"

the numberless

(Review

that

leaflets

of Religions,

I,

p.

340).

readily admitted, as was needful since it represents Dajjal (anti-Christ), and Dajjal must have become very successful before the promised Messiah He quotes from Maulvi appears to put him to flight. Sher 'All, B.A., one of his followers " Lives are risked and like water. Human is Its

success

is

:

money

squandered

brain cannot devise any means which have not been 1

of

the

made

use of by

This is a misrepresentation of the Christian and (by implication) Muslim view of eternal punishment for sin, in which both

religions believe. 2 Cf. p. 69, Note 2.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY They have spread all over the world They have been to every land and have made their way

97

Christian missionaries.

like

locusts.

into

There is no ear but has heard their voice, no eye but every home. has read their mischief-spreading writings, and there are very few hearts which have not imbibed some kind of pernicious influence from them. Immense is the loss that Islam has suffered at their hands. There were days when apostacy was unknown to Islam, but now thousands of Musalmans have gone over to Christianity. Many among the Muhammadans have found the temptation of Christianity to be irresistible, and thousands of the naked and hungry have adopted .

.

.

Noble families have also fallen a prey to this Great The Holy Prophet said that 70,000 Musalmans shall This prophecy, too, has been more than fulfilled " follow the Dajjal. (Article on Anti-Christ, Review of Religions, IV, pp. 34-435). Christianity.

Tempter.

.

.

.

The

success of Christian missions among high-caste India is disputed, as the number of conversions is so few, although in the Review of Religions for October, 1908, a Hindu writer in the Vedic Magazine is quoted to

Hindus

in

this effect

:

" Christ got only twelve

and one

disciples in three years,

of

them

betrayed him, another denied him and all fled at the time of his Thus the slow growth of a religious community need not crucifixion. deceive us. Who expected that the missionaries would convert all the Hindus in India the moment they landed? When we look at the difficulty of the task that lay before these alien intruders, we are .

.

.

staggered at the amount of success they have attained. They come with a new Gospel they have strange manners they speak an unknown tongue. They work among a people who are deeply To my mind the Christians are increasing attached to their religion. at a rate which is truly appalling. Remember Christians have doubled in thirty years. Let this formula be repeated so often that you ;

;

.

.

.

—

its terrible significance, which is that the death-shadow approaching the Hindu community" {Review of Religions, VII, pp. 406-407).

learn to estimate is

The

success

Christian missions among the lowthe outcastes of India is sneeringly wonder that any professed representative conceded. of so democratic a religion as Islam could thus quote with approval a Hindu writer: " We think the of have caste

peoples

of

and

We

good days Christianity gone by. the converts are found among the Pariahs, the Chandals, the Chamars, the sweepers, the butchers, the butlers, and the most degraded and demoralized people, who are the pests of the country, and whose touch defiles the higher class men. These dunces, drunkards, debauchers, and starving rogues are now counted by millions among .

Nowadays

.

.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

98

the Christian converts in India, and the higher class people do still remain as 'untouched' by the influence of Christianity as ever"

(Revieiv of Religions, III, p. 378).

In the Pan jab Census Report for 1901, it was said of that he began his work "as a Maulvl with a " (Review of Religions, II, special mission to sweepers Ahmad's petition to Government to issue a denial p. 83). 1 is of this statement interesting for the light which it reflects on the missionary activities of the Ahmadiya movement in contrast to Christianity. I quote it in part

Ahmad

:

That

"2.

altogether false and groundless, and most injurious and harmful to my honour and reputation. "4. That the sweeper class is specially associated with crimes, and to represent me as connected with that class when there is not the

statement

this

is

slightest foundation for such a charge is to represent me as being in a state generally considered disgraceful. The sweepers in this country

are looked upon as the most degenerate class of people, and the statement made in the Census Report is calculated to do the greatest harm to my reputation, and to hurt the feelings not only of myself, but also of the thousands of the most loyal and respectable subjects of the

Government who and

follow

me

as their

guide and leader

in all religious

spiritual matters.

That my

"5.

principles and doctrines, which I have been since the very beginning, are morally so sublime and spiritually so exalted that they are not suited to, and accepted by, even Muhammadans of a low type and bad morals, to say nothing of the sweepers, and that they are accepted only by intelligent and nobleminded men who lead pure and angelic lives, and that my followers

preaching

actually include

Government

their

in

highly educated young

How

number

2

3

Ra'ises, Jagirdars, respectable and pleaders, learned Maulvis (Review of Religions, II, p. 83).

merchants,

officials,

men "

was Jesus' attitude, reflected in his " I came not to call so often quoted in India, " the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5 32).

saying,

different

now

:

The

Christian establishment of schools, colleges and

without hospitals is praised passages, although in one place 1

Undoubtedly

a

mistake due

to

qualification read

we

in

several

:

Ahmad's having been

confused

cousin, Mirza Imam-ud-dln, who undertook such a mission to the Chuhra, or sweeeper, community. 2 Ra'is is a person of authority, a chief. 3 Jagirdar is the holder of a jagir, the perpetual tenure of a tract of land subject to quit rent and service.

with his

first

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

99

"The arguments (for Christian missions) derived from the establishment of hospitals and schools are too silly to have the slightest effect upon any reasonable person" (Review of Religions, V, p. 438).

The

Christian missionary attitude of alleged antagonism is fiercely censured, although in his later to have discovered a new attitude of seems Ahmad years respect and sympathy on the part of some Christian missionaries toward Islam, and even admitted that they

toward Islam

were setting the Aryas a good example in this respect. We need not linger long over Ahmad's invectives, already alluded to, on the subject of the degeneracy and weaknesses prevalent in Christian lands. He does not, 1 attribute the like his pupil, Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn, weaknesses and failures of Christianity in history to St. Paul, as though he were its founder. Rather, he writes conclusively, "The deadliest sin is to be attributed to him

" (Jesus) that he is at the root of all Christian corruption (Review of Religions, I, p. 159). There is the usual contradiction, however, to be found in the first number of the Review of Religions: "It cannot be denied then

that the

fold

in a path different from that in which the presence of its holy keeper exercised

walking

when

it

its

of

Christ to-day

is

walked in the days wholesome influence

excessive drinking Is the wholesale debauchery and over it. of Christian Europe in accordance with what Jesus taught ? of the holy personage It is not true that it is all owing to the absence who worked so wonderful a transformation in the apostles?" .

.

.

.

(Review

of Religions,

I,

.

.

pp. 3, 4).

The

free intermingling of the sexes is held responsible for much of the immorality in the West, and over against " the veil" is upheld as the it the Muslim requirement of

Such prostitution

ideal.

to

charged

Muslim

the

Christian

as

practice of polygamy

alleged absence

exists in

ideal

of the social

is

Western lands

is

monogamy, and the

of

given the credit for the

evil

in

Muslim

countries,

higher than Drunkenness and gambling are declared in Christendom. to be everywhere prevalent in Christendom, and, in this 2 The Christian misconnection, absent from Islam.

where woman's

position

is

held

to

be

Muslim India and Islamic Review,

1

Cf.

8

See, however, p. 68ff.

I,

p. 137.

100

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

sionaries and clergy are charged with being as corrupt and drunken as the entire Christian civilization of which they are the professed exponents. That Christianity is dying is asserted with the same monotonous regularity that characterizes the assurance that the day of Islam's revived glory and power has been ushered in by the promised

out

Messiah.

CHAPTER V THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT AND THE INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS OF INDIA Toward Hinduism in all its ramifications Ahmad turned For all its cherished an uncompromisingly hostile face. After stating, "Of all the beliefs he had only sneers. birds I have an extreme liking for pigeon flesh, because it is " the emblem of the Christian Deity (Review of Religions, the Hindus for not I, p. 347), Ahmad ironically praised 1 He scoffed at making their sacred cow an article of diet. the theory that the Ganges water can wash away sins, considering

it

analogous

to

the

Christian

doctrine

of

The Vedas were denounced as having sanctification. lowest forms of fetishism and idolatry, the birth to given and to religious festivals, among some Hindus, which are "characterised by horrible scenes of incest and adultery." Their polytheistic tendencies are contrasted with the "I would like to be strict monotheism of the Qur'an 2 told in which part of the world the four Vedas have blown In India, which is the the trumpet of monotheism. :

of the Vedas, we find that a variety of creatureworship prevails, such as worship of fire, the sun, Visnu, and so on, so that the bare mention of such worship is a Travel from one end of India to the disagreeable task. other, and you will find the entire Hindu population deeply3 immersed in nature-worship. Some worship Mahadevajee,

home

1 Anyone living outside of India can scarcely realise what a studied insult this is to a Hindu whose practice of vegetarianism has for him the most sacred significance. Cf. p. 69, Note 2.

Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda. "The Great God," a name of Siva, who is associated with Brahma and Vi§nu in the Hindu Trimurti. 2 3

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

102

1

sing odes in honour of Krisnajee, and the rest " prostrate themselves before idols of every description The editor of the Review (Review of Religions, XV, p. 204). of Religions, in the issue for July, 1908, quotes from the Vedic Magazine, for June, the reasons there given by Professor Max Miiller (taken from his India : What it Can Teach Us) for his belief that the religion of the Vedas is

others

not monotheistic (Review of Religions, VII, p. 272). Likewise, the alleged universality of the Vedas is vigorously disputed. Of the heroic figure of Rama 2 it is said: "Rama of Hindu mythology has also been deified, but he too had to suffer the disaster and disgrace of his wife being kidnapped." " In another passage we are asked to consider the jealousy

Ram Chandra showed when

which

his

wife

Sita

was

kidnapped by Ravana" (Review of Religions, II, p. 140). This jealousy is not, however, condemned. The Puranas 3 " are described as fabulous legends," and again, of Hinduism " as a whole it is the whole system is a mere said, plaything, a mass of fabulous traditions, which must vanish away before the light of science and knowledge." The doctrine of transmigration is condemned because, (1) "It the Divine Being of all his glorious attributes and of his power and control over the universe"; divests

(2)

it

"sweeps away

all

distinctions

between

legality

and illegality" and vitiates the purity of family life, "for it is possible under this fantastic law that a person's own mother, daughter or sister may be re-born to be his wife" (Review of Religions, I, p. 409-410); (3) it is unfair to the soul that, after having once attained salvation, it should be "turned out of the 1

An

("Song

incarnation of the god, Visnu, the hero of the Bhagavadgita

of

Love").

2 One of the two best-known incarnations of the god Visnu, the other being Krisna. He is the hero of the great Hindu epic, the Ramayana, which tells of the theft of Rama's faithful wife, Sita, by the demon Ravana, and her eventual recovery by her husband. 3 group of sectarian Hindu sacred writings that followed after the Vedas and the Upanisads, in the first millennium of the Christian era. They contain the later myths, mostly of an unwholesome character,

A

attaching to Krisna.

THE MOVEMENT AND INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS

103

house to undergo another series of births

and

salvation

deaths, and this merely because of the helplessness of God and his inability to create new souls" (Review of Religions, VII, p. 477).

Notwithstanding the worthlessness

_of

the Vedas, in 1

Ahmad's

are eyes, the members of the Arya Samaj denounced for their neglect and ignorance of the Vedas, in spite of their boasted regard for them. Replying to an

Arya attack on those former Hindus

who

version of contemptuously stated

Review

Ahmadiya "

Islam,

the

had adopted the of

Religions

the information of the public that the Qadian Arya Samaj be the last body in the world to prove its Vedic learning and So far as we know, the body is constituted of village shoperudition. keepers, money-lenders, retail grocers and small hucksters, who are In contrast with this class of shopkeepers, who ignorant of the Vedas. have deserted their old Hindu faith for that of Pundit Dayanand, the Hindus who accepted Islam are mostly educated young men, of whom some have studied up to the B.A. standard, and who read the Vedas for

shall

in

Urdu and English and spend day and night

in

the

study

two

foci:

of

religious lore."

The

attack on the Aryas gathered around

The assertion of the co-eternity of soul and matter with God, 1. which " borders actually upon atheism, and is practically a denial of the need of God's existence." The doctrine of Niyoga, 2 held to mean that " if there is a 2. woman who is living in actual matrimony and has a living and healthy husband who cannot raise male children to her, i.e., either only daughters are born or there exists some other reason on account of 1 The Arya Samaj, founded by Swami Dayanand Sarasvati in 1875, holds that only the original Vedic hymns are fully inspired, and that they contain all the truths of religion and of natural science.

It

believes in

as the

law

considered

of

one personal

God and

human

Matter and

life.

eternal, and science.

religion and character.

in transmigration and karma soul, as well as God, are

the three constitute a

The Samaj

is

kind of

trinity for

both

aggressively missionary

in

* This form of temporary marriage, established by the founder of Arya Samaj, is now for the most part repudiated by his followers. A man might contract this relation with eleven women in succession, and a woman with eleven men. For further details see the article on the Arya Samaj in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,

the

II, p. 60.

THE AHMADTYA MOVEMENT

104

which some time passes without the birth of a child, it is the duty of the husband to invite a third person to his house to have sexual connection with his wife and this shameful course may be continued until eleven male children are born to the woman from the stranger's seed " (Review of Religions, II, pp. 139-140). ;

In

"The Message

of

Peace," however,

Ahmad seemed

to

accept the Vedas as genuine scriptures, and rightly declared that the justification of the repulsive practice of Niyoga could not be found in them " Similarly the doctrine of the Niyoga is attributed to the Vedas. :

Human

nature revolts at this hateful doctrine. But as I have already believe this to be the teaching of the Vedas. . . That millions of people have been believing it to be the word of God is, however, a sufficient reason of its truth, for it is impossible that the word of an imposter should enjoy the honour which the Vedas said,

we cannot

have enjoyed

The

"

.

(Review

their

violent Christians.

of Religions, VII, p. 256).

denounced because of and attacks upon, Muslims and The Review of Religions, in 1908, quoted

Aryas

are

particularly

abuse

of,

from Arya writings a series of attacks on Christian teaching, such as that Christ was "an ignorant savage, who did wicked deeds and who set up a fraud to become a religious leader" (Review of Religions, VII, p. 121), and then said of them

:

"We

are surprised to find that the very expressions which are considered adornments of sacred books in an uneducated country like India are punished with imprisonment in free and advanced England. far the right to criticize entitles a man to depict another in the darkest colours and to use abusive and contumelious language is a different question, which I shall not try to answer in this article. It is, however, clear that the line must somewhere be

....

How

drawn between

liberty

and license" (Review of Religions, VII, pp.

124-125).

That there is a limit, nevertheless, to the British Govern" " ment's toleration of such contumelious language was illustrated in 1914 in the prosecution, under the Indian Press Act, of the Editor of Badr, an Ahmadlya vernacular paper, because of articles, relating to the birth of Jesus Christ, tending to bring subjects of Great Britain in India 1 into contempt. 1

See also p. 69, Note 2.

THE MOVEMENT AND INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS

105

" In Ahmad's last Message of Peace," several times referred to above, he made the astonishing proposal of a kind of union of his sect with the Arya Samaj, and with Hinduism generally, on a basis of mutual concessions, as follows

:

"

the Hindu gentlemen and If, in order to have complete peace, Arya Samajists are prepared to accept our Holy Prophet, may of God, peace and the blessings of God be upon him, as a true prophet and give up denying and insulting him, I will be the first man to sign an agreement to the effect that we, the members of the Ahmadiya and to speak of the sect, shall always continue to believe in the Vedas Vedas and the rishis 1 in the most respectful terms, and bind ourselves to pay to the Hindus a penalty of Rs. 300,000 in case we fail to fulfil If the Hindus cordially wish for this peace they should the agreement. This agreement will be as follows also sign a similar agreement. 'We believe in Muhammad Mustafa, may the peace and the blessings We will of God be upon him, and regard him as a true prophet. And if we always speak of him respectfully, as a true believer should. the

:

diya .

.

fulfil this agreement, we shall pay to the leader of the Ahmamovement Rs. 300,000, as a penalty for breach of agreement. But in order to make the agreement strong and sure, it will be

to

fail

.

necessary that it should be signed by at least 10,000 intelligent both sides" (Review of Religions, VII, p. 257).

men on

There was, of course, no response to this impossible which was regarded by the Hindus as a kind of

proposal,

gambling venture. Little attention

Brahma Samaj.

2

was paid by Ahmad It is referred to as

to the quiescent having been really a

hindrance rather than help to the spread of Christianity, because, although it admits the greatness of Christ, "those who have any Christian proclivities find a refuge in the

vagueness of Brahmaism." 1 A seer, or inspired poet, in general; used specifically in the Purinic period for "seven primeval personages born of Brahma's mind, and presiding, in different forms, over each manwantara." Balfour Cyclopedia of India, I, p. 424. 2 A theistic reforming movement, which appeared in Calcutta in It was an attempt to form a the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Hindupure spiritual religion by blending some of the leading ideas of It has now split into three sections, the Adi ism and Christianity. Its Samaj, the Sadharan Samaj, and the New Dispensation Samaj. three great leaders have been, successively, Ram Mohan Ray, Debendra Nath Tagore and Keshub Chandra Sen. :

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

106

More attention is paid to the Sikh off-shoot of the Guru Nanak, 1 the founder, sought to parent Hindu tree. " " teach the remembrance religion, pure and undefiled of God and the doing of good and made his appeal to

—

—

Hindu

and

Muslim irrespectively. Ahmad, however, made the unique discovery that Guru

claimed to have

Nanak was a genuine and acknowledged Muslim, and was sent to teach Hindus the truth of Islam :

"

undoubtedly true that the person of Nanak was an embodiment of divine mercy for the Hindus, and he was, as it were, the last Hindu religion who tried hard to purge the hearts of of the avatar Hindus of the great hatred which they entertained against Islam, but to the great misfortune of this country the Hindus did not avail themselves of the holy teachings of Nanak. On the other hand, the Pundits of the Hindu religion persecuted this great man only because he admitted the truth of the religion of Islam. He had come to bring about a union between Hinduism and Islam, but he was not listened " to (Review of Religions, VII, p. 248). It is

Ahmad revelation,

Muslim.

gave for

many

his

At Dera

reasons, besides the fact of direct

statement that

Guru Nanak was

a

the Panjab, there is preserved a chold (cloak) said to have been worn by Nanak and his successors up to the fifth guru. 2 According to Ahmad, this chold was said to have had a miraculous divine origin, and tradition declared also that verses from the sacred scriptures of all religions had been written upon it by the hand of God. Several hundred coverings, placed over the chold by successive generations of Sikhs, obscured the writings but by special arrangement, on the 30th of September, 1895, the coverings were removed to allow Ahmad, who had undertaken a pilgrimage Baba.

Nanak,

in

:

1

Nanak (1469-1538),

like

Kabir, his contemporary, condemned

the system of divine incarnations and preached against idolatry as He retained the doctrine of Transmigrapracticed in Hindu temples. tion and Karma, and made no change in the Indian social system. Many Muslims as well as Hindus became his disciples, and it is though not historically established, that he made the possible, pilgrimage to Mecca. The Granth Sahib, or Noble Book, the sacred scripture of the sect, is now accorded almost idolatrous

worship. 2 There were ten gurus became the abiding guru.

in

all.

After that the Granth Sahib

THE MOVEMENT AND INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS

107

for the purpose, to view the sacred relic. Ahmad then " From top to bottom the verses of the discovered that Holy Qur'an, especially those refuting the false doctrines of other faiths with regard to Divine Unity and attributes, " 1 were written upon it (Review of Religions, II, p. 32). And we are told that obviously " Nanak wore the chold, that no one might be deceived as to the religion he How could he be best known as a Muhamprofessed. madan except by wearing a cloak which could not be worn by any but the truest Muhammadan ? " (Review of .

.

.

Religions, II, p. 33). This discovery by

Ahmad

is

held to be

another proof

of his Messiahship.

"

As, on the one hand, a death-blow has been dealt to the Christian error of resurrection and ascension, by the discovery of Jesus' tomb in the Khan Yar Street, at Srinagar, the false notion of the Sikhs that Nanak professed any religion other than Islam has been brought to naught by the discovery of the sacred chold. Through centuries of Sikh warfare, the chold was preserved to serve as a testimony of the Islam at the appointed time when the sun of its truth was to shine forth in its full effulgence .... the chold was miraculously preserved so that it may both fulfil the prophetic word in relation to the truth of

appearance of the Promised Messiah to accomplish the object of making Islam the predominant religion by strong arguments and heavenly signs, and be a testimony to the truth of Islam by showing that it was from this source that the founder of a great religion received all his blessings" (Review of Religions,

Other evidence, adduced by

of

II, p.

Nanak's

35-36).

Muhammadan

tendencies

Ahmad were

that he dressed like a Muslim, frequented the company of Muslim saints, and ascetics, performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, married into a Muhammadan family, and spoke of the deity in the terminology not of Hindu thought but of the Muslim Sufis. It was even said that he enjoined, and himself observed, the Muslim requirements as to repeating the Kalima,' keeping the fasts, performing the prayers and refraining from prohibited food. 1 I have questioned several well-informed Sikhs about this incident, but found them unable to verify it. 2 The witness of the Muslim that there is no God but Allah, and

Muhammad

is

his Prophet.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

108

The two following quotations from Macauliffe's book, The Sikh Religion, 1 will indicate what basis there is in Sikh history and tradition

Ahmad's other Muslim faith.

for

alleged proofs of

the

chold story, and for Nanak's devotion to the

" The Guru (Nanak) set out towards the east, having arrayed himself in a strange motley of Hindu and Muhammadan religious habiliments. He put on a mango-coloured jacket, over which he threw a white safa, or sheet. On his head he carried the hat of a Musalman Qalandar, 2 while he wore a necklace of bones and imprinted a saffron mark on his forehead in the style of Hindus. This was an earnest of his desire to found a religion which should be acceptable both to Hindus and Muhammadans without conforming to either faith" (I, p. 58). "After his (Nanak's) successful discussion with the Yogis, the Guru decided to visit Makka, the pole star of Muhammadan devotion.

He

disguised himself in the blue dress of a

Muhammadan

pilgrim, took

a faqlr's staff in his hand and a collection of his hymns under his arms. He also carried with him, in the style of a Musalman devotee, a cup for his ablutions

and

whereon

And when

an opportunity prayer like any orthodox 3 prophet" (I, p. 174).

a carpet

offered, he shouted the follower of the Arabian

to

Muhammadan

pray.

call to

Ahmad had no such love for modern Sikhism as he pretended to have for its founder; which is not surprising when one remembers the vicissitudes undergone by his own family in the days of Sikh ascendancy in the Panjab. He once said :

"The

term of Sikh ascendency was marked by complete anarchy and bloodshed, and the people were plunged into unspeakable At last the measure of Sikh iniquity became full to the misery. ... brim, and the time came when the plundering career of these marauders was to receive a check. The British came from the East like a rising brief

Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, in six volumes, The author spent many years in compiling the contents Oxford, 1909. of this massive work from the writings in the vernacular of the Sikhs themselves. The historical portions are of value rather for the picture they give us of the great Guru, as his followers have conceived him, than as a trustworthy historical document. 2 An order of Muslim darwishes, or ascetics also used of any 1

;

faqir. 3

am

informed by my friend, Sardar Tara Singh, of the staff of the Khalsa (Sikh) High School, in Lahore, that there is supposed to be achold of Guru Nanak at Dera Baba Nanak, and that there are Arabic characters upon it which no one has been able to decipher, I

THE MOVEMENT AND INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS

109

sun and dispelled the dark clouds of Sikh tyranny. They gave the country not only peace and tranquillity, but above all religious liberty, which to me seems the greatest boon which a just ruler can confer a subject

upon

Ahmad religion,

people."

had

which

little

personal contact with the Buddhist

practically non-existent to-day in India hence we find few references to it in his is

proper, and To-day, however, writings and in those of his followers. the sect is spreading in Buddhist Burma, and no doubt more attention, of an unflattering variety, will be paid to that religion by Ahmadiya writers in the future. Buddha's alleged weaknesses are referred to in one

place as follows " Whenever a man has been deified God has shown his weakness and infirmities in all points. Buddha was made a God, but in the discharge of his duties as a husband and a father, the most sacred of Nor was the obligations of man towards man, he was an utter failure. he able to observe the other duties towards his fellow-beings, and thus :

As to the other part, entirely neglected one of the two parts of the law. He did not viz., his duties toward God, he offers no better example. Thus he believe either in miracles or in the acceptance of prayer. could not find out the path in which the elected of God have walked." In the attitude of the present head of the movement toward other religions, there is evident at times a more eclectic and irenic spirit than we have found in Ahmad. In an article by him in Review of Religions, for March, 1916, he upholds the thesis that all religions are from God, but that either they have been limited to a certain people and locality, or else they had lost their original character at the time when the Qur'an, containing the universal and

abrogating all others, was sent down to This is bringing up-to-date and making definite for India to-day the principle enunciated in the Qur'an that to every people a prophet and book were sent, after which Muhammad, the last of the prophets, came to the Arabs with the Qur'an, by which all previous revela1 In accordance with this developtions were abrogated. ment we read, in the article mentioned above

final

religion

Muhammad.

:

"So

comparing Islam with other faiths, nothing is farthest human under{sic) from my purpose than to call other faiths pure in

1

Cf. Qur'an,

LXI,

5;

LXIV,

46.

110

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

On the takings and the prophets of the world so many imposters. other hand, it is my bounden duty as a Muslim to bear witness to the truth of all the righteous servants of God, wherever they had happened to appear, and admit without any reserve or demur the truth of the Indian prophets, Rama and Krisna, quite as readily as that of the It is, again, my business to testify to the truth of Israelite prophets. the Persian sage, Zoroaster, or any other heavenly personality who claimed to be the recipient of Divine revelation, who was backed up with Divine succour and favour, and for whose acceptance millions of

minds were opened by God " (Review

of Religions,

XV,

p. 84).

CHAPTER

VI

THE AHMADIYA COMMUNITY In the

first

chapter, in giving an account of the

life

of

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the general line of development of the sect was traced up to the death of the founder in 1908. We saw that the real beginning of the movement, as a distinct sect within Islam, came in 1891 with the Mirza. Sahib's announcement that he combined and fulin his own person the prophecies regarding the filled promised Messiah and the Mahdi. However, we may say

Ahmadiya community, as such, owed its inception Ahmad, in March, 1889, that he was entitled to receive bai'at (homage) from his

that the

to the earlier declaration of

fellow

Muslims.

The

first

of

the

disciples

attracted

by this announcement was Hakim Nur-ud-Din, who was destined to become the "first Khalifa." In the beginning the Mirza Sahib's followers were called Qadianis, or Mirzais, partly

them

in

derision

and partly to distinguish

other Muslims in whose worship in the In 1900 the mosques they refused to participate. members of the community were, at their own request, entered under the name "Ahmadiya" in the official census list of the Government of India, as a distinct

from

Muhammadan

it is by that name that they In 1891, as has been written above, the storm of opposition broke upon Ahmad from orthodox the forces of the Islam, the Arya Samaj, and Christianity opposition being led, respectively, by Maulvi Muhammad Husain, Pandit Lekh Ram and Mr. Abdulla Atham. This period of acute controversy, which included nearly all of his prophecies, ended with the order of the Government of the Panjab, dated February 24th, 1899,

prefer to be

sect,

and

known.

—

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

112 to it

1

which reference has been made above, although must be said that the MIrza Sahib did not altogether

adhere

to

ample, by

Dowie.

enforced

his his

later

promise,

as

illustrated,

for

ex-

prophecy regarding John Alexander

2

In the year 1896 the community numbered 313 memIn the Census of India Report for 1901, 1,113 male Ahmadis were returned for the Panjab, 931 for the United Provinces and 11,087 for the Bombay Presidency. It is certain that the number returned for the Bombay bers.

Presidency was inaccurate, since throughout its history a a majority of the members of the community have been The total strength of the movement found in the Panjab. Ahmad in the Panjab at that time was given as 3,450. himself in that year claimed 12,000 followers (Review of ReThree years later, in 1904, his claim ligions, XV, p. 457). " had grown to more than two hundred thousand followers," and the editor of Review of Religions has recently seen this number doubled in his imagination, and writes that " " in 1904 the number of Ahmadis rose to 400,000 persons (Review of Religions, XV, p. 47). Shortly before his death, in 1908, Ahmad stated that the full strength of the movement throughout the world was then no less than 500,000. No evidence whatever is given to substantiate these reckless statements, and we must set over against them the returns of the Government of India Census of 1911 where, in the section on the Panjab (Vol. XIV, Part 2), the statistics of the movement are given as follows: Males, 10,116;

No returns were made for Females, 8,579; total, 18,695. the whole of India in the Census, but the Panjab returns In give us a clue to the total strength of the movement. 3 1912 Dr. H. D. Griswold stated that in his opinion 50,000 would be a liberal estimate of the numerical strength of the Ahmadiya movement at that time. Allowing for a considerable increase in the six years that have since elapsed, it is safe to say that at the very most there are not more than 70,000 followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad at the present time. 1

P. 43.

2

Cf. p. 45.

3

Moslem World,

II, p.

373.

THE AHMADlYA COMMUNITY

113

After the death of the founder, in 1908, the direction of movement passed into the hands of Hakim Nur-udDin, the first disciple, who appears to have been a studiIn accordance with the ous, clever and industrious man. last will of the founder, the affairs of the community were placed under the control of a committee, called Sadrthe

1

Anjuman-i- Ahmadiya (Chief Ahmadiya Society ), which (it was assumed by all, though not clearly stated in the will) was to be under the direction of the elected head of the

movement, now

known as the "Khalifat'-ul-Masih'' Nur-ud-DIn, as the first (Successor of the Messiah). Khalifa, abstained from assuming undue authority, and considered himself merely a servant of the Anjuman to do its Under this policy the community made some bidding. progress, in spite of the loss of the magnetic personality of There were, however, signs of division its original head. that became more evident and ominous with each passing month. These first became manifest in 1913, at the time of the Muhammadan riots following the Government's action in attempting to remove an abutting portion of a mosque in Cawnpore in order to realign a road. The entire Muhammadan community in India was aroused, and among those who expressed themselves very earnestly this at time was Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn, already 2 as a referred to leading member of the Ahmadiya community, who had just begun the publication of a

Muhammadan magazine 3

in

England.

As

this

was

a

the counsel of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, that his followers should avoid all political controversy and concentrate their energies on distinctly religious effort, it was to be expected that some of the members of the community would view Kamal-ud-DIn's The resultant protest was most action with alarm. strongly voiced in an Ahmadiya vernacular paper, Alfazl, notable

departure

from

became a Samaj, analogous to the Arya Samaj and in Hinduism. Cf. Muslim India and Islamic Review, I, p. 366ff. P. 17. 8 Then known as Muslim India and the Islamic Review. The name has since been changed to The Islamic Review and Muslim 1

It

thus

Brahma Samaj 2

India

.

8

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

114

by its editor, Mirza, eldest son of Mirza

Mahmud Ahmad,

Bashir-ud-Din

the

Ghulam Ahmad

by his second wife. the community had pro-

controversy within the cause of the original trouble in Muhammadan India was removed by the action of the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, through which the entire difficulty was adjusted A number to the satisfaction of the Muslims concerned. of the most prominent members of the Ahmadiya community, however, continued to cherish resentment against the son of the Mirza Sahib, who, they felt, was inclined to assume undue authority for his opinions because On of his relationship to the founder of the movement. the other hand, many conservative Ahmadis felt that

Before ceeded

this far

Khwajah Kamal-ud-Din and his party had been disloyal memory of the founder in making common cause

to the

Muhammadans throughout India in political controversy, as well as in having joined the All-India Moslem

with

League, which had been denounced

Ghulam Ahmad.

1

During the

last

as pernicious by Mirza, illness of Nur-ud-Din

both parties were active, the party of the Mirza's son in preparing for his immediate election to the office of Khalifa, and the opposing party in issuing and distributing a booklet giving it as their interpretation of the Mirza's last will that there should be no Khalifa at all, but rather that the Sadr-Anjuman-i-Ahmadiya should have entire control of the affairs of the community. Immediately following Nur-ud-Din's death, Mirza Bashirud-Din Mahmud Ahmad was elected Khalifa by a gathering of Ahmadis in Qadian, despite the protests of members of the other party who were present and who thereupon seceded, and, with all who shared their

new Anjuman, with headquarters at Lahore, called Anjuman-Isha' at-i-Islam (Society for the In the absence of Khwajah Kamal-udSpread of Islam). Din in England, the leadership of this party fell to Maulvi Muhammad 'All, M.A., LL.B., who has already been

opinions, formed a

2

referred to as the able editor of its

who

inception, and 1

Cf.

The Review

of Religions since

had prepared the pamphlet regardpage 67.

*

P. 17.

THE AHMADlYA COMMUNITY

115

The ing the Khalafat preceding Nur-ud-Din's death. chief immediate point of dispute between the two parties was whether or not the original Anjuman should have full The question control of the affairs of the community. had not become acute in the time of Nur-ud-Din, because his tactful handling of the situation, but with the election of a son of the founder, who had already tended to presume upon his family relationship and who was of

to arrogate to himself an increasing degree of authority, further compromise was impossible and a perThe difference was really a manent split inevitable. fundamental one, involving the essential nature of the likely

The Qadian party, claims the founder had put forward. as we may now call it, held that he must be considered one of the prophets (nabi'), in spite of the fact that orthodox Islam believes that Muhammad was "the last of 1 the prophets and the seal of the prophets." Further, they declared that since only those are true Muslims who believe in the prophets of God, those who do not so "

Ghulam Ahmad are kaftrs" (unbelievers), with whom no true believer may worship, no matter how many other points of belief they may share with Muslims." accept Mirza

On "

the other

hand,

"

the seceding

party

held

that

the

made no such outstanding claim Promised Messiah for himself, and they are unwilling to call non-Ahmadi In general, the latter minimize the Muslims kdfirs. between the difference Ahrnadiya community and orthodox Islam, whereas the Qadian party regard the difference as of fundamental importance. of points This is evident in many ways. The Qadian party still insist on the importance of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's prohibition of true Ahmadis from following non-Ahmadi imams

in

their

prayers, attending

non-Ahmadi

funeral

and giving the hands of their daughters to nonAhmadi men, although their sons are permitted to marry

services,

1

Cf. p. 109. Cf. Appendix

VI for a ruling of the High Court of Patna, Bengal, by which Ahmadis were declared to be Muslims, at liberty to worship behind any recognized imam, but not entitled to form a separate congregation in the mosque. 2

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

116

non-Ahmadi prohibitions

The Lahore party believe that these girls. were only necessary in the early days of the

movement and had but

temporary significance. In their work the person and claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad are almost invisible. At most they 1 consider him to be only the latest of the Mujaddids, and his influence survives only in their belief in the death of Jesus and his burial in Kashmir, and in the hostile attitude toward other religions which is found among them to an extent that does not exist among educated Muslims generally a

writings and missionary

in India to-day.

In dealing with the recent history of the movement, we have to consider the two divisions separately. With regard to the members of the Qadian Anjuman, the controversy with the alleged disloyal party has had the effect

shall

of fusing their loyalty and intensifying their zeal, as being now the orthodox, faithful people. present Khalifa

The

does not seem to be a man of his father's force, although, as he is still a young man, it is too early finally to appraise his character. He is described as follows by a friendly writer in the issue of Review of Religions for June, 1915

(XIV,

p.

" He

217)

:

young man, below thirty years of age, fair of complexion, height, slender of build, with a clean broad forehead, thin lips, thick short beard, eyes which through their half-open lids always look to the ground, modest and retiring habits; such is the appearance of the man who now guides the destiny of this community. His life is simple and retiring, and his manners sincere and affable." of

is

a

medium

.

.

.

fairly well describes my own impression of the the occasion of my two conversations with him at He strikingly resembles his Qadian, in January, 1916. father in appearance, in his sedentary habits and in his He is also, like readiness and cleverness in controversy. his father, a semi-invalid. He has recently married a second wife without divorcing the previous one, who is still living. There seem to be no such outstanding personalities in this segment as there are in the Lahore Anjuman; but in this group of loyal supporters of the Khalifa there is present The original an earnest spirit of enterprise and industry.

This

man on

1

Cf. p. 131, Note 1.

THE AHMADIYA COMMUNITY

117

Sadr-Anjuman is vigorously pushing forward education in The keystone is the English high school the community. at Qadian, which contains about four hundred students in all the grades from primary through the fifth high standard, and which is affiliated to the Panjab University. About half of these students come from outside Qadian

and one hundred of them are non-Ahmadis. The former out headmaster, Maulvi Sadr-ud-DIn, B.A., B.T., went 1 His with the secessionists and will be mentioned later. Maulvi Muhammad Din, B.A., is ably successor, prosecuting the work in the new building just completed. Of the twenty-five students who went up for the matriculation examination of the Panjab University in 1916, twenty-one passed, a very high average. There is, likewise, 2 a madrassah for the study of Arabic and the Qur'an, in which more than seventy-five students are enrolled, of whom thirty are expected to go out as missionaries when the seven-year course is completed. Primary schools have been opened in different districts and many more are A beginning has been made in the education projected. of women, and the status of women, on the whole, seems On to be above the standard obtaining in Islam generally. three days a week the Khalifa addresses all of the members of the community, after the evening prayer in the mosque. On the literary side, in addition to the English monthly paper, Review of Religions, less vigorously and ably edited

the long period of M. Muhammad 'All's editorthe following vernacular papen are published at Qadian tri-weekly, Alfazal; weekly, Alfaruq, Alhakam, Nur; monthly, Tashiz-ul-Azhan, Sddiq, Review of Religions A former paper, in Urdu quarterly, Tafsir-ul-Qur' an. Badr, whose stormy career was interrupted by Government in 1914, 3 has not since re-appeared, but its editor, Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, now edits the paper callid Sddiq. The new Anjuman Taraqqi-i- Islam (Society for the Advancement of Islam), founded by the present Khalifa,

than

in

ship,

:

l

;

1

P. 125.

2

A

Muslim

solely. '

Cf. p. 104.

school or college for the study of religious subjects

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

118

to supplement on the religious side the work of the SadrAnjuman, has been active in missionary efforts. It claims to be supporting twelve paid missionaries in different parts Ceylon and Mauritius, as well as in London,

of India,

one, with a paid assistant, whose work is from that of the Kamal-ud-Din party. Ambitious plans are afoot to send further missionaries to " " England, Ceylon, Java, Japan, China," the Philippines, etc. All the Ahmadis are In addition to these regular workers, regarded as honorary workers, and school teachers as well as editors are also sent on preaching tours whenever occasions arise." The converts have mostly come from the ranks of orthodox Islam, and are most numerous, outside the Panjab, in parts of Bengal, the Deccan and Malabar. The following quotation from the Government Census Report for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, covering the period

where there

is

distinct

entirely

from

1901 to 1911, gives an illuminating summary of Ahmadiya missionary activities in that part of India where, as in the Panjab, Muslims represent an important element of the

"

population

:

The Ahmadiya

doctrines appear to have been first introduced Bihar in 1893, when a Musalman missionary of Bhagalpur became a convert. The movement has already gained a considerable number of adherents from among the educated and well-to-do classes. They are most numerous in Bhagalpur and Monghyr, which form one section with a committee affiliated to the Sadr-i-Anjuman-Ahmadlya, that is, Funds are raised for the propagathe central committee at Qadian. tion of the Ahmadiya doctrines and for the publication of its monthly In Monghyr the Ahmadiyas magazine, the Review of Religions. have met with considerable opposition from the orthodox Musalmans. At a large meeting held at ?>Ionghyr, in June, 1911, the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad were debated, and after long controversy he was denounced as a heretic and renegade. The sect has even made its way into Orissa. Some educated Musalmans of Cuttack embraced its doctrines during a visit to Gurdaspur, and in their turn succeeded in in

.

winning over some however small."

.

.

of their co-religionists in

Puri

;

their total

number

is

Two 1

Bengal,

years later a missionary at Brahmanbaria, in East thus described the growth of the sect in his

Rev. John Takle, of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society, The Faith of the Crescent (Association Press, Calcutta, 1913). 1

author of

THE AHMADIYA COMMUNITY

119

which had its beginning in the secret interest of a high school maulvi teacher " During the Puja vacation he went the long trip to Qadian on the Mahdi and his sect were purpose to find out on the spot whether He and the four men who went with him came back, true or not. initiated followers and now about fifty ignorant Muhammadans in the

village,

:

to his side, much to the angry disgust of the orthodex section. On the first Friday after the return of the maulvi a religious riot was averted only by the prompt action of the magistrate. The renegade maulvi had all along led the Friday prayers, but after his return the orthodox Muhammadans were determined that he should He and his not enter the mosque, so they locked the door on him. it open, but the magistrate party went to the mosque bent on breaking appeared on the scene and prevented him. Feeling is running high here just now, and subscriptions have been raised for the purpose of bringing some learned maulvls to argue out the matter with the

town have gone over

pervert."

Another missionary in the same station (Rev. W. F. " They do not carry on any open propaWhite) writes ganda, but work quietly in the villages trying to propagate their tenets. Occasionally some lecturers come from :

other places, but they are not allowed to lecture in public gatherings." 1 have already seen how the Ahmad! who introduced the movement into Timapur, in the Deccan, where there is now a large community of the Mirza Sahib's followers, in

We

time formed his own sect and attracted to his party several hundred former Ahmadis. The following account of Ahmadiya activities in Malabar is given in the Bombay Advocate of 31st August,

1915: " The Ahmadiya movement among

the

Musalmans, which had

its

the Panjab, has secured about three thousand origin in Gurdaspur, in 2 followers in the Moplah centre of Cannanore in North Malabar. For some time past the orthodox and this new party, which believes 3 in the advent of another prophet like Christ in place of Esanabi, and ' '

1

2

P. 46, Note

1.

The Moplahs

(Mapillas), comprising nearly the whole of the

Muslim population of Malabar (about 800,000), are descendants of Arab immigrants of the eight and ninth centuries, with a considerable admixture of Hindu blood. They have in the past shown fanatical hatred of the Hindus, but are to-day, for the most part, peaceful traders. 8 I.e., Isa nabi, the Prophet Jesus. l

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

120

whose creed is a sort of Protestant Muhammadanism, have been in open hostility, the latter being subjected to a number of annoyances and ill-treatment. The tension has now become very severe, and pamphlets of an inflammatory nature, calculated to create disturbance, are circulated broadcast.

'A Musaliar 1 of the orthodox party is reported to have been recently arrested by the police in connection with it. The Neo-Musalmans, who are in a minority, are petitioning district authorities to afford them from the orthodox who are hostile towards them and protection party, who have excluded them to a certain extent from the mosques." '

The

following quotation from the Ceylon Independent, Review of Religions for June, 1916 (IV, p. 224), indicates that the movement is active in and about

quoted

in

Ceylon " The Ceylon Ahmadiya :

A

Association. ... meeting of this Slave Island, on the 19th instant, Mr. Mr. C. H. Mantara read letters from the T. K. Lye presided. Ahmadiya headquarters at Qadian and the Islamic Mission in London. He announced the formal initiation into the Ahmadiya Movement of Professor Abdiil Latif, lecturer at Chittagong College, Dr. Syed Usmani, of Panipat, and the Imam and others of the Rose Hill Mosque Resolved that a revised scheme for a mission to Java at Mauritius. and the Far East be submitted to headquarters. Resolved that the printing press be established at Slave Island, and a journal in English and Tamil be started, to be called Isldin, and also that the names and addresses of all would-be subscribers be ascertained by the secretaries. After a study of the Holy Qur'an the meeting terminated with the usual vote of thanks and with prayers to Allah."

Association at 10,

To

this

is

Wekanda,

appended,

in

Review of Religions,

the honorary secretary of Slave Island " The Tamil Islam

the

a

note from

An juman-i- Ahmadiya on

:

Mittrian, is attacking us most severely, paper, being grossly misrepresented, and if our voice is not raised against these calumnies, the cause of the Ahmadiya in Ceylon may be prejudiced."

we

are

The India

at

annual gathering of Ahmadls from Qadian each December tends,

all

as

parts of

does the

pilgrimage to Mecca in the case of the orthodox, to in the pilgrims fresh zeal for the cause, as inspire opportunity is furnished to hear the leaders of the movement and to meet with other Ahmadls from distant 1 The Musaliars are the Moplah maulvis, travelling preachers and teachers of the Qur'an and the commentaries.

THE AHMADIYA COMMUNITY

On my

121

to Qadian, in 1916, at the time assembly was just closing, I was generously entertained in European style in a house that had been built by an Ahmadl police inspector of Bengal for his use when he came to Qadian on the pilgrimage. A recent undertaking of the Anjuman T araqqi-i-I slam has been the translation of the Qur'an into English, with the entire work to be pubnotes and cross-references

places.

when

the

visit

annual

.

lished in thirty parts, of

.

.

which one has appeared

at

this

1 A reason given in the" preliminary writing (1918). the English advertisement for this translation is, that have been done either translations so far published but by nothing by those who have been swayed religious prejudice, and whose object was certainly not the manifestation of truth, but the presentation of a ghastly or by those picture of the Holy Qur'an before the world who had no acquaintance worth the name with the Holy Qur'an and the Arabic language, the result being that those translations are too poor reading to afford anything like a real insight into the excellencies of Islam." will let that sweeping arraignment of the labours of Sale, Palmer and Rodwell, as well as of several Muslim 2 The commentary on the translators, speak for itself. Qur'anic verses is written, as we should expect, wholly from the Ahmadiya viewpoint, and combines the presentation of Ahmadiya teaching with continual tilting at Western critics of the Qur'an, especially Sale and Wherry. Typographically the work is excellent. With regard to the present beliefs of the members of ;

We

the Qadian party, one of them who speaks with authority has given me, in writing, the following three chief tenets:

"1. The Qur'an is the word of Allah revealed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, whose own words are preserved in the tradition. It is from A to Z, with the arrangements of chapters and even vowels, from Allah. It is the perfect and final code of law, and the words of the Prophet, as

embodied

in the traditions, are its

commentary.

1 Cf. article, "The Koran According to Ahmad," by R. F McNeile, Moslem World, VI, p. 170 (April, 1916). 2 For an account of the translations of the Qur'an into English, see Zwemer, Moslem World, V, p. 244.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

122

"2.

Revelation did not stop

with

Muhammad;

it

is

nowadays

The living example of a also sent to the righteous servants of God. recipient of Revelation has been, in our time, the person of Ahmad, This continued revelation is only for the the promised Messiah. 1 support of the Qur'an and of the truth of Muhammad's mission. "3. fect

Muhammad

man and model

according to Ahmad's teaching, the human guidance. He is free from sin.

is,

for

per-

He

a servant of Allah. It is he through whom one can have access to To say that Christ, Son of Mary, will come for the gates of heaven. the reforms of Muhammad's people is to us a blasphemy and derogatory to the high dignity of the prophet of Arabia."

is

Regarding the respective positions occupied by Mirza Mirza, Bashlr-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, the same informant writes:

Ghulam Ahmad and " Mirza. Ghulam

Ahmad came

in the spirit of Christ and was the His advent was Prophet of Arabia. 2 promised by all the prophets of yore. Sahibzada (Bashir Ahmad) is the second successor of the promised Messiah, and it is believed that promises for the spiritual revival and progress of Islam are to be He is the promised son of the promised Messiah; fulfilled in his time. for the Messiah was to marry and beget a son." Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself is reported to have said " My second manifestation shall appear in the form of my successors, as it appeared after the Holy Prophet in the person of Abu Bakr, Omar, etc. A man from God from among my own children will arise, and shall be named the Promised Reformer. His shall be the time of conquests for Islam."

second

manifestation

of

the

:

In this

we

can trace

occupies

already

a

beginning of a "docsecond Khalifa," who clearly

a possible

trine of the person of the

position superior

to

that of

Hakim

Nur-ud-DIn, in whose veins no blood of the promised Messiah flowed, and in whose day no prophecy of a spiritual revival was destined to be fulfilled. A belief in the intercession of Muhammad on the last day, and in the miracles of the prophets, are other articles of faith that are being emphasized to-day. The May, 1915, issue of the Review of Religions explains in detail how it was possible (in the view of the Qadian party) for Ahmad to be a prophet, in spite of the 1

Cf. p. 55.

2

Sahibzada

of the

is

heir-apparent

honoured son.

universal

Muslim

belief

" Young Master," and is often used equivalent to to a throne as well as in the general sense of an

THE AHMADIYA COMMUNITY that

Muhammad was

the

seal

(i.e.,

the

123

last)

of

the

prophets. " ....

A man can even gain prophethood by the help of our Lord Muhammad's spiritual powers. But no prophet with a new book or having been appointed direct will ever come for in this case it would be an insult to the perfect prophethood of our Lord. According to this we believe that a man the Promised Messiah has gained prophethood in spite of his being a follower of our Lord," " of ;

.

—

i.e.,

Muhammad

Ahmad different

(Review

way

of Religions,

the

himself said

XIV,

same thing

p.

.

.

—

196).

in

a

slightly

:

"All the doors of prophethood are closed save one, i.e., that of One completely losing one's individuality in that of the prophet. that approaches the Almighty through this door begins to reflect He becomes a prophet, the same old prophethood of Muhammad. " but we cannot call him a new prophet for he is one with his master

(Review

of Religions,

When

XV,

asked about

p.

475). 1

future salvation, following the Judgment, the present Khalifa informed the writer that orthodox Muslims, since they are kdfirs, who do not believe in the prophetship of Ahmad, cannot herehis

doctrine

of

When pressed, however, admitted to the Garden. he declared that there was hope that they and, in fact, kdfirs of every variety, might reach Paradise ultimately. He then dwelt at length on his interesting personal belief At first, he said, only in ultimate universal salvation. those who are perfect in faith and works (perfection in works consisting in conformity with the fundamental requirements of Islam, getting a 51 per cent, pass-mark, as he expressed it) would be admitted while outside would be ranged all the various grades of unbelievers, reaching down to the lowest hell. These would then begin to ascend toward Paradise and, as they became true Muslims, would be admitted, until at last Allah's mercy shall have comprehended all. He was willing to concede that the after be

;

1 Orthodox Muslims believe that a Muslim who has committed greater sins (kabira) must pass a purgatorial period in the Fire, from which he can only be saved by the intercession of Muhammad. The heretical Mu'tazilite (cf. p. 65, Note 3) denied that Muhammad's Lesser sins (saghira) can be intercession could accomplish this. removed in many ways. See also p. 36, Note 3.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

124

seceders belonging to the Lahore party would, through Muhammad's intercession, secure early admittance to Paradise, by reason of their faith in the promised Messiah, although they will find themselves sadly deficient on the score of works. Darwishes, Sufis, saint worship and asceticism of all kinds are under the ban as emphatically at the present time as in Ahmad's lifetime, yet it seems that already the tomb of Ahmad has become to some extent an object of superstitious regard in the eyes of his followers, whose desire and duty it is to visit Qadian at one of the annual gatherings in December, there to behold the scenes of the promised Messiah's life and ministry, to hear his teachings ex1 pounded by his son, and to offer prayer before his tomb. In the Appendix further facts are given regarding the present beliefs and constituency of the Ahmadiya

community.

The work of the two Qadian Anjumans is supported 2 by contributions of the faithful throughout India, and, in addition, every true believer is expected to leave behind him a will which bequeathes at least one-tenth of his The Qadian community makes no property to the cause. appeal to orthodox Muslims for funds and claims to be wholly supported by Ahmadis. Turning now to the Anjuman-Isha'at-i-Islam, with headquarters in Lahore, there is little, if any, propaganda carried on by its members on behalf of the as such. The appeal which is made by the leaders and missionaries of this party is to Muslims generally, urging them to forget their differences and unite in order to further the interest and spread of Islam venture, throughout the world. Their pristine educational " " in in 1915, took the form of a so-called college

Ahmadiya movement

a number of young men were trained become missionaries of Islam. According to a statement written for me at that time by a member of this " the admission qualifications for the college are Anjuman,

Lahore, where

to

1

Cf. p. 24.

2

The

regular zakat (alms) must

Bait-ul-Mal (treasury).

all

be sent to Qadian, as the

THE AHMADlYA COMMUNITY

125

the matriculation examination of the Panjab University, or other equivalent examination, or Munshi Fazil, or Maulvi Fazil, that is, high proficiency in Persian or Arabic

with

equivalent."

English

was the M.A., LL.B., "

chief

Maulvi

Muhammd

member

of the staff,

1

"

'All,

which

Professor of Bible, " a Professor of It might be of interest, as Islamic and other history." casting light on the relationship between the two parties, to quote a paragraph from a letter of a member of the

contained

a

Professor of Hadis,"

a

Hebrew and Arabic grammar," and

Review of Religions, from whom information about Lahore "college" was requested given with no

—

staff of

the

understanding that " There exists no

it

be considered confidential

:

hired college worth the name, for a class of students (about half a dozen), taking instruction from an ordinary maulvi and an incompetent Christian convert, cannot rightly be termed I do not think that such an irregular institution can do a college. There are already a lot of classes of the kind opened useful work. and maintained by Muslims, but they all lack the life-giving spirit, so You may guess marvellously manifest in the institutions of Qadian. the reason, for the living and the dead cannot be on the same par and the nominal followers of Ahmad of Qadian cannot reap a good harvest after their vain attempts at putting a scythe to the green fields of Qadian. They will, along with their mimic institution, disappear from the scene in the near future, and be merged in the vast, but dead, Muslim community. This being the case, what sort of work can this so-called college do, and what good can we expect from it ?" ;

"

" has been discontinued, but in 1916 " Muslim High School and Senior a opened Anjuman Cambridge Local College" in Lahore, with Maulvi Sadrud-Din, B.A., Khwajah Kamal-ud-Din's former associate

The

college

the

I am informed that the Woking Mission, at its head. there are upwards of one hundred students, of whom a few

in

are in residence,

who

are being prepared for the

Cambridge

The

English Bible is taught (191718) by a Christian chaplain, Rev. F. F." Shearwood. for the benefit of In the autumn of 1918, a hostel Muslim collegiate students" was opened by the Anjuman

Local Examination.

in

of

Lahore. In addition to this educational work, other activities the Lahore Anjuman consist of the publication of the 1

Cf. p. 56, Note 3.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

126

tri-weekly

Paigham-i-Sulah in Urdu, and also of some another translation of the Qur'an into completed in December, 1917, by Maulvi

literature, including

English,

Muhammad

The 'All, the president of the Anjuman. claims to have several missionaries in different " to advance the cause parts of India, whose purpose is It Islam." has also inherited of fr.om Ahmad his penchant 1 for holding public debates on religious themes. in interest on the of this politics, part growing Anjuman, was evidenced by the sending of a deputation, headed

Anjuman

A

Sadr-ud-Din, to Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, on behalf of the so-called Congress-Moslem League Scheme of Home Rule, in December, 1917. The Islamic Review and Muslim India is published in English at Woking, and, in addition, an Urdu edition is published in Lahore and a Malay edition in Singapore. A species of social service has been undertaken by the Anjuman on behalf of the criminal tribes of Kot Mokhal In 1917 the total inin Sialkot district of the Panjab. come of the Anjuman amounted to Rs. 36,923-0-9, and the An anniversary expenditure totalled Rs. 34,479-10-9. meeting of the Anjuman takes place in the Ahmadiya by Maulvi

buildings, Lahore, each December. The chief missionary interest of

this

branch of the

in England, Ahmadiya community centres in the mission 2 Its founder, to which reference has already been made. Khwajah Kamal-ud-Din, a graduate of Forman Christian College, Lahore, received his B.A. in 1893, became a in Peshawar and then 1912 proceeded to England as

Lahore, and early in missionary of Islam. He first established his headquarters at Richmond, but in August, 1914, moved with his helpers to Woking, in Surrey, where there already existed a mosque, built by the late Professor Leitner, a former principal of the Oriental College, Lahore, and given by his heirs after his death to the Muslim community. Khwajah Kamal-ud-Din believed that his first duty was the removal of the misrepresentation pleader

1 Cf. Appendix public debate,

VIII

for

a 2

in

typical

a

Ahmadiya

Cf. p. 118.'

challenge

to

a

THE AHMADlYA COMMUNITY

127

Muhammadanism which he held was current in To further this end he Christian circles in the West. commenced the publication of the paper, first named Muslim India and the Islamic Review. He also seized every opportunity of delivering lectures on various subjects of

For instance,

connected with Islam.

in

January, 1913, a

Cambridge on the subject of it was stated, in favour of polygamy " even God was the Islamic Review), that

was arranged Polygamy," in which

debate "

at

(as reported in pleased to take birth in the house of a polygamist, as the blessed Virgin was the second wife of Joseph, father of the Lord." On another occasion the subject of the position of women in Judaism, Christianity and Islam was discussed and it was argued that Islam had done more than At other religions to raise the status of womankind. the International Congress on Religious Progress, held in Paris in July, 1913, Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn delivered an address on the subject of Islam and received a cordial All such meetings are reported at length in the reception. Muhammadan Islamic Review, which, in addition to apologetics, contains a great variety of attacks on the Christian faith and its founder, similar to those quoted At first some space was given in in Chapter IV above. the paper to political affairs in connection with Islam in India, but of late the articles have been almost wholly religious in character In addition to the mosque at Woking, the Mission Hill has rooms at 111, Camden Road, Notting Hill

compared, and all

1

where Sunday religious lectures, Gate, London, W., Friday prayers, with sermon, and literary and scientific The lastlectures, on alternate Thursdays, are held.

named

are

promoted by the London

Muslim

Literary

Society, which, like the Central Islamic Society, the Society of London Muslims, and the British Muslim Association, is a British development of Ahmadlya Islam.

A

number of English ladies and gentlemen have professed conversion to Islam, the most prominent being Cf.

Appendix V

for

a

ormer London headquarters

newspaper report of a meeting Mission at Caxton HalL

of the

in the

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

138

Irish peer, engineer and sportsman, who 1 the president of the British Muslim Association. Other English Muslims who are constant contributors to the Islamic Review are Professor Henri M. Leon, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., F.S.P., A. Neville J. Whymant, Ph.D., Litt.D., F.S.P., and Mr. J. Parkinson. Alto-

Lord Headley, an is

now

hundred had announced their gether perhaps two conversion by the end of 1917. A quotation from The Islamic Review for January, 1916, will indicate what is involved in the acceptance of Islam in England to-day. " The Brotherhood, being universal,

who would

is

to

open

all,

and anybody

Friday prayers at one p.m., or at 39, Upper Bedford Place, London, W.C., on any Friday Sunday services, held at 3.15 p.m. at the Woking Mosque. Send the like to join itcan either attend the

;

accompanying declaration to

who

to

the

Imam

of

the

Mosque, Woking,

always be glad to answer any inquiries. Islam claims be a rational faith, and undertakes to satisfy the reason and con-

Surrey, science

will

both,

so

answer questions

criticism

is

encouraged

and every

effort

made

to

satisfactorily.

DECLARATION FORM son

daughter

I

of

wife of

(

address)

and solemnly declare

of

my own

free will

that

I

do hereby faithfully adopt Islam as my

that I worship One and only Allah (God) alone that I respect to be his messenger and servant Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc. that I will live equally all prophets a Muslim life by the help of Allah. religion; that believe

I

Muhammad

;

—

—

La

ilaha ill-Allah,

Muhammad

N.B.

— Please address

B.A., B.T., Head

;

of the

al

rasul-Allah.*

Maulvi Sadr-ud-Din, 3 Mosque, Woking, Surrey. all

inquiries to the

1 On December 9, 1916, Lord Headley was fined ten shillings, or seven days' imprisonment, at Tower Bridge Police Court, London, for being drunk and disorderly in Waterloo Road. The case was appealed, and at the County of London Sessions, on January 19, 1917, the appeal was dismissed with costs. See The Glasgow Weekly Herald for December 16, 1916, and January 20, 1917. See also Lord Headley's explanation in Islamic Review, October 1917, Vol. V, p. 421.

2

I.e.,

Kalima.

Cf. p. 104, Note 1.

Compare with the Form Movement, in Appendix II. 3

for

Initiation

into

the

Ahmadiya

THE AHMADIYA COMMUNITY

129

Another quotation, from the issue of September, 1915, and dreams of the group at

will illustrate the aspirations

Woking

:

" The time

is approaching fast when God will no more remain an absurd mathematical problem, even in Christian lands. The time will come when Europe will be freed of its four curses of selfish The time will materialism, drunkenness, gambling and licentiousness. come when the Christian belief that woman was the cause of that sin with which, according to Christian nations, all mankind is permeated from The time will come when innocent and angelic birth, will die out. children, if they die unbaptized, will not be sent to perdition because of the crimes committed by their remotest possible ancestors, and if they live they will not be allowed to grow up with the demoralizing conviction in their minds that they were born sinners, and that their sins can only be cleansed by the blood of Christ. The time, in short, will come, and that, Insha Allah, 1 soon, when Islam will be accepted by

European nations as the religion which satisfies man's reason and conscience both. The time will come when in European countries Eid-ul-Fitr 2 and other Muslim festivals will no more remain novelties, and when the cry of La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulallah will be heard from high minarets five times every day from European the

cities."

This periodical is sent free to several thousand nonMuslims with the idea of interesting them in Islam, and the editors make it their boast that because of their work " such the Western mind has already been disabused of misrepresentation and misunderstanding which has been enveloping Islam and tarnishing its beauty for centuries." The same claim is made for a book by Lord Headley, 3 Western Awakening to Islam, which is entitled A really a modified restatement (for the most part published previously in the Islamic Review) of MIrza Ghulam Ahmad's glorification of Islam at the expense of Christianity. At this writing an effort is being made to compass the the city of London itself, and has spent considerable time in India arousing interest and securing funds throughout the

erection

of a

mosque

in

Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn 1

I.e., 2

The

"

Please God." 'Id-ul-Fitr is the feast which celebrates the end of the fast

Ramadan. 3 Right Hon. Lord Headley, B.A., etc., A Western Awakening to Islam; Being the Result of Over Forty Years' Contemplation, London of

1915.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

130

Muhammadan world (not simply from Ahmanoted), on behalf of this project as well as of all the work of the Muhammadan Mission in England, in which there are now several paid and many voluntary workers. For the purpose of giving a resume of the beliefs of the members of the Woking Mission there is included in Appendix IV, p. 147, a part of an editorial on "What is Islam?" which is taken from the Islamic Review. The following subjects of articles that have appeared recently in that periodical, selected at random, will give an idea of the range and nature of its contents: " A Muslim's" Obligations to His Kinsmen," "Universal " Haeckel and God and Science," Brotherhood," Islam," Relative Position of Man and Woman in Islam," " The Age of the New Testament," " Christendom and " " Islam and Idolatry," Islam," "Islam," Misrepresentations of Missionaries," "Jesus Christ as Man and 'God'," "The Solidarity of Islam," 'Islam and Civiliwas the Founder of 'Church Religion* zation," " in the West ? Regarding the financial condition of the Woking Mission, the receipts from Muslims in all parts of the world during the year 1917 totalled Rs. 26,765-8-3, and the expenditure was Rs. 31,963-6-0. These figures include the expenses involved in the publication of the Islamic Review, a considerable enlargement of which is proposed in the near future. entire Indian dis,

be

it

"Who

CHAPTER

VII

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AHMADlYA

MOVEMENT In considering the raison d'etre of the Ahmadiya movement, it is necessary to distinguish between the motive and the reasoning of its original leader, and the motives that have actuated those who have joined the sect both In the case of before and after the founder's death.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad himself, as in the case of his great master, Muhammad, thirteen centuries earlier, a predominant influence leading to his assumption of the role of prophet was undoubtedly his overwhelming sense of the evil that was in the world, particularly, in Ahmad's case, that part of the world which was nominally subject to

Muhammadan

As he meditated upon law and ethics. 1 he was mindful of the tradition that at the beginning

this

of every

hundred years

a reviver

2

(Mujaddid

)

would appear,

who

should revivify Islam and restore it to the pure prinAhmad's conviction that he had ciples of its founder. been chosen to fulfil a unique mission may well have had its inception in the growing consciousness, which appears early in his writings, that he was the divinely appointed reformer for the fourteenth century of the Muslim era. Following this, through his contact with Christian missionaries and their claims and doctrines, a new Christian element was introduced into his thinking, and, from that time forward, occupied a far more prominent place in his mind than is the case with the average Muhammadan 1

p.

26 2

;

See Ed. of Ihyd of Al Ghazali, with commentary of S. and Goldziher, Vorlesungen iibcr den Islam, p 314 Cf. p. 116.

M

,

I,

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

132

He early recognized the importance teacher and preacher. of the unique place given to Jesus by Muhammad, especially in the fact, as the Qur'an is generally interpreted by Ahmad Islam, that Jesus was taken up alive into heaven. saw that a

dead

a live Jesus,

whose tomb nowhere existed, and at Medina was an object

Muhammad, whose tomb

of pilgrimage for Muslims, gave Jesus an advantage of which Christian missionaries might have made far more use than they had. After Ahmad had reflected upon these

things and discussed

them with Muslim and Christian

friends, the revelations began to come, as described in the first chapter, giving to Ahmad all the honours which

Muslims

usually

ascribe

to

Jesus,

and

most

of

Muslim "agreement" upon Muhamclasses of Muslims he sought acknowledg-

those conferred by

From all " " next step ment as the which came, in time, to mean mad.

in the divine revelation, that he was not only the reformer of the present generation, but that he was also the fulfiller of all the apocalyptic hopes of Muslims those looking toward the Mahdi as well as to the promised Messiah. Then, even as Muhammad from believing that he was sent specially to his own followers came to regard himself as appointed to a more universal mission, Ahmad extended his claims to other religions as well, declaring that his revelation was to all mankind, to the Christian and the Hindu as well as to the Muslim. But here the difficulty of Jesus' ascension into heaven in his earthly body, according to both Muslim and Christian ideas, had to be conclusively dealt with by Ahmad, since, were Jesus really alive in such a unique manner, which did not hold true of Muhammad and the other prophets, it would be expected that his return would be supernatural in character, in which case Ahmad would have no ground for his claim to Messiahship. Ahmad accepted the issue by boldly and repeatedly declaring that if the commonly accepted view of Jesus' ascension was true, he (Ahmad) was an imposter; and we have seen how earnestly he sought to prove that orthodox Muslims and Christians were wrong, through his revelation declaring that Jesus died an ordinary death and was buried in Srinagar, Kashmir. The efforts of his

—

SIGNIFICANCE OF

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

133

were divided between urging the proofs of his various claims to unique eminence, building up the new community centring in Qadian, and giving in his lectures and writings the spiritual interpretation of Muhammadan teachings which he held to be needful for the revitalizing of the Muslim world. His proposal, just before his death, later years

to form a

union

was the climax

of the

Arya Samaj, Hinduism and Islam,

of his life's activities.

To

1

understand the motives of those Muslims who have joined the movement other than those who were attracted by the personality of the founder and immediately and blindly accepted his judgments and revelations as valid, without any use whatever of their reasoning faculties it is necessary to survey briefly the recent development of Islam in India. Dating roughly from the beginning of the nineteenth century, there came to the religious thought and life of India, moribund for so and many centuries, a notable awakening 2 to the advance, due, as Dr. Farquhar has shown,

—

—

—

the British Government in co-operation of three forces India, Protestant Christian Missions and, at a later period, the work of the great Western orientalists. The Muhammadan community in India (comprising more than sixty millions of the three hundred odd million inhabitants) was the last large unit of the population to feel and

respond to this new stimulus, as it was farthest behind in education and culture. It was their great progressive 3 leader, Syed Ahmad Khan, of Delhi and Aligarh, who realised

first

that the

Muslims must join the Bengalis,

Marathas, Parsis, and other races and communities, in seeking to assimilate the results of Western scholarship, and, where necessary, to adapt their religious ideas and practices to fit the new environment created by the influx of British He civilians, Christian missionaries and oriental scholars. advised his fellow-Muslims in India to eschew political 1

The number

Christians who have become so small as to be negligible for our present purpose of estimating the significance of the sect, * Modern Religious Movements in India, p. 5. 3 See p. 66, Note 1.

Ahmadis

in

of

Hindus and

India and other countries

is

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

134

controversy, and, thankfully recognizing the advantages afforded to Islam in India by the presence of the British Government, to seek in every way to advance the cause of In his education and social reform within their own ranks. residential college, at Aligarh, Western arts and sciences were taught by European scholars along with the religious To the instruction given by Sunnite and Shl'ite maulvis. utter abomination of the orthodox, he mingled freely in

English society, even dining with English ladies and gentlemen in their homes, and in his periodical, Tahzih'ul Akhlaq (" Reform of Morals"), he urged upon his community the importance of female education and enfranchisement, and of other advanced reforms. In religious matters he was a liberal and a rationalist, going so far as to place the Christian Bible on a par with the Qur'an, as no less, and no more, inspired, holding that the Bible has not been corrupted by the Christians, and that in the Qur'an, as in the Bible, there also

One

is

of his

a

human

as well as a divine

element. He of Genesis.

commentary on the book watchwords was, "Reason alone is

wrote part of

a

a sufficient

and he quoted with approval the remark of a French writer, that Islam, which lays no claim to miraculous powers on the part of the founder, is the truly 1 As Goldziher has pointed out 2 rationalistic religion. guide,"

3

this represents a return to the old Mu'tazilite position, and in its universalistic outlook upon other religions is

akin to Babism in Persia, which arose at about the same period. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his followers, then, represent the first development of Indian Islam, under the stimulus of its contact with Western ideas, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the profound influence of this movement on the articulate section of the Muhammadan In the second stage we pass from what world of India. " movements favouring vigorous reDr. Farquhar calls in which reform is checked by defence of to those form," 1 See Weitbrecht, Indian Islam and Modern Thought, Church Congress, 1905. 2 Vorlesungen iibcr den Islam, p. 313. 3 and p. 123, Note 1. Cf. p. 65, Note 3 ;

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

SIGNIFICANCE OF

the old faiths, from the atmosphere of the theistic

135

Brahma

Samaj, of Ram Mohan Roy and Keshub Chandra Sen, to that of the largely reactionary and strongly anti-Christian

Arya Samaj living

Dayanand Saraswati. Such well-known Syed Amir 'AH and Maulvi Chiragh 'AH

of

Muslims

as

its MuhammadAhmad Khan, but in its much more dogmatic and

represent this school of thought, which in

anism

is

as rationalistic as Sir

Syed

attitude toward other faiths is These writers are greatly concerned to prove that the reforms religious, social, moral and political which have been forced upon Islam by pressure from

less tolerant.

—

—

with the original spirit of Islam, tradition, law and presentFurthermore, they day practice may actually oppose them.

without are

really in line

however much

Muhammadan

declare that the real Islam

is

the universal religion of the

meets sinful man on the lower level of his practical, everyday life, instead of holding up, as does future, because

it

Christianity (sic), ideals impossible of attainment.

probably represents that

"

side

development

of

This

Islam

"

to 1

which Professor Macdonald

alludes in Aspects of Islam, " Or are the wheels of progress to crush when he writes out all ideals, and is the future civilization of the world to :

be

woven

of philosophic doubt, of

common-sense

attitudes

and of material luxury ? There is a curious side development of Islam which looks in that direction, and which sees in the narrowed, utilitarian aims, in the acceptance of the lower facts of life, in the easy ideals which characterize that religion, the promise that its will be the future in the common-sense world to come, and holds that, even as the world is, Islam must be the religion of all sensible men." Syed Amir 'All seems to hold that view of Islam, in its essence, only insisting that Muhammad's practical rules and yet assist morality more than do general precepts admitting that in order to the wide acceptance of Islam in the West certain modifications of its requirements are In The Spirit of Islam he has written: "The essential. Islam of Muhammad, with its stern discipline and its severe ;

morality, has proved

itself

1

the only practical religion for low

Pp. 256, 257.

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

136

natures, to save them from drifting into lawless materialism. is probable, however, that should the creed of the Arabian Prophet receive acceptance among European communities, much of the rigid formalism which has been imparted to it by the lawyers of Central Asia and Irak

It

1

have to be abandoned." has reform passed over into apologetic, as, in the main thesis of Syed Amir 'All's book, it advances to polemic and straightforward attack essential to the assertion, on this new ground, of the superiority of Islam As Syed Amir 'All and Maulvi over Christianity. Chiragh 'AH have departed from the policy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in the latter's unpolemical religious will

Thus

eclecticism, the vigorous group of Muslims composing 2 the All-India Moslem League has departed from it in a different direction in their active championship of the political rights and ambitions of the Muslims of India in The editor of the defunct Comrade the present day. (the organ of this group), Muhammad 'AH, by reason of his seditious articles and utterances, was interned by the British Government, together with his brother and a number of other prominent Muslims, soon after the commencement of the war with Germany. come now to the Ahmadiya movement, which represents on the religious side a further departure from Sir Syed Ahmad's position, in the matter of religious on different liberalism, but is a return to it, though 3 grounds, in the matter of the absence of political controThe rationalism of all the newer school is utterly versy. repudiated by Ahmad, as we have seen, and there is present here a zeal for reform more analogous to the Wahhabites than to any other modern party of Muslims. It represents a later stage of the reaction to a Christianity It by this time established and rapidly winning converts. has attracted those Muslims who, concerned alike at_the inroads of Christianity and (to a small extent) of the Arya Samaj from without, and of rationalism and worldliness from within, turned eagerly toward a leader who took his

We

1

Preface, p. xii.

2

Cf. p. 114.

3

Cf. p. 103.

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

SIGNIFICANCE OF

137

stand firmly upon Islam as a revealed religion, as being the supreme revelation of God to man, and, allowing no quarter to Christianity, pressed forward in unsparing attack, not, however, asserting the superiority of Islam on the ground of its rational character, but rather because of the authentic and conclusive nature of its divinely inspired revelation. Accordingly, following in this Syed Amir 'All rather than Sir Syed Ahmad, Western civilization, as well as the Christian religion, is generally and heartily

condemned. Undoubtedly one element which helped to convince many Muslims of the validity of Ahmad's claim to be the medium of revelation in our day was his theory death of Jesus, which brought them the regarding relief from the predicament in which they had hitherto been placed in religious controversy with Christians. This reason for success is frankly set forth in a recent article by Ahmad's son, the present Khalifa, which is the substance of a letter sent by him to the Nizam of Hyderabad " The chief reason why the reformer of this age was given the :

Messiah was tha the was destined to fight against Church Christianity' and to break its power, and as an actual fact the instruments which the reformer used towards this end were such as were For example, altogether beyond the power of the Christians to face. it was the practice of the Christians to take in Musalmans by such Mark, how our Messiah is still alive arguments as the following: Our Messiah used to bring the while your prophet is dead.' dead to life. Your prophet did not bring any dead to life.' Our Messiah is sitting in the sky, your prophet lies buried under '

of

title

—

'

'

'

Your prophet will not visit the earth again, but sand.' our Messiah will once more come to the earth to purge it of its corruptions, and it is he who will overthrow the perils of the latter Now, say truly, which of the two is superior ?' The argudays.' ment was such as could not possibly be escaped by the Musalmans What the reformer and most of them fell a prey to the deception. did was to establish by powerful arguments the falsity of all such He thus saved Musalmans from the clutches of the Chrisnotions. '

the

'

tians.

... By proving

that Jesus died a natural death, the

new reformer

a fresh lease of life to Islam, and now the Musalmans are for all from falling a prey to the Christian missionaries" times saved

gave

(Review

A

of Religions,

XV,

further powerful

Ahmadlya movement

p.

9).

element of attractiveness

is its

in the appeal to the age-long eschato-

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

138

hopes of Muslims, held to some extent in common with earnest adherents of most of the great religious comlogical

munions ly

of the world.

It

is

on

this side that

related to the Babi and Baha'i

it is

distant-

movements, from which

we have already seen, 1 in the matter exclusiveness and intolerance, insisting, as it does, not on the oneness of all religions, but rather on the unique The late supremacy of Islam as interpreted by Ahmad. Dr. S. G. Wilson, author of Baha'ism and Its Claims, for thirty-two years a missionary in Persia, traces the parallelism between the two movements, in eschatological and 2 other directions, in part as follows it

of

differs essentially, as its

:

"In

Christendom (referring to Baha'ism. In not a is a striking resemblance between these offshoots from Muhammadanism. Some of these may be accounted for by their springing up in a similar soil, a Mubammadan soil impregnated with Suflism and Mahdiism.and in which some elements of nineteenth century Christian thought had found lodgment. Both (Ahmad and Baha'Ullah) claim that a new revelation is needed, because Christianity is dead and Islam needs reforming. Both, after the example of Muhammad, sent letters to kings announcing their coming and inviting them to faith. Both practised polygamy and praised Muhammad and the Both belittled Jesus Christ, denying his miracles, his Koran. Both failed to resurrection, his ascension and literal Second Coming. bring about moral reformation in the conduct of their disciples, who have divided into sects on the death of their founders. Both claimed as signs of their mission their eloquence in the Arabic tongue, the this effort to

the Mission at few points there

propagate

Woking, England),

.

writing of

itself

.

it

in is

like

.

spontaneous verses,

fulfilled

predictions,

their success

in

winning converts, and the good effects seen in the conduct of their Baha.' Ullah sent Both made large use of the press followers. his books to Bombay to be published, owing to lack of liberty in Turkey and Persia; Ghulim Ahmad had a press of his own at Qadian. The teachings of Ahmad are free from some of the extravagances and Neither sect appears to have any great future inanities of Baha'ism. Their chief usefulness has been to help towards the before it. breaking down of scholastic Islam the one among the Shi'ahs, the Baha'ism has definitely broken with other among the Sunnis of India. ;

—

Islam, while the

While

Ahmadiya movement

continues within

its

fold."

the reasons given above help to explain the measure of success attained by the Ahmadiya movement, 1

2

all

Cf. p. 53.

Modem

Movements Among Moslems,

N.Y., 1916, pp. 138, 139.

Fleming

H.

Revell,

SIGNIFICANCE OF it

is

chiefly

significant

craving oT the

human

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

139

giving added evidence of the heart everywhere for a real and It has shown how many Indian

as

vitalizing religious life. Muslims there are who

could not rest satisfied with a on the one hand, nor with mere empty orthodoxy combined with formal worship, on the other. My visit to Qadian, in January, 1916, although it took place more than eight years after the death of Ahmad, showed me a community where there existed abundant enthusiasm and zeal for religion, of a vigorous, positive kind rationalistic faith,

unusual in Islam in India at the present time. One could understand how an earnest Muslim who had come to feel a species of contempt for the ignorant, unfaithful maulvis of his acquaintance, a Muslim to whom Muhammad seemed a long way back, historically, and Mecca a long way off, geographically, would find in the spirit of industry, confidence and aggressiveness to be encountered at Qadian a heartening faith for which he had looked in vain to orthodox relatives and priests. can understand how he would thankfully accept as true the revelations of the Mirza Sahib, without subjecting their content to the scrutiny of a trained intellect, partly because his pragmatic mind could see that here was something that worked, and partly because of his not being one of the rare few in the Muslim world who as yet have attained to fair and critical judgment in matters affecting the religious life. The split in the sect, following the death of the first Khalifa, shows the counter effect upon the community of the strong present-day rationalistic and political elements in Indian Muhammadanism, pressing in upon the minds of educated Ahmadis like Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn and his

We

fellow-seceders.

They

are

so

far

men

of

affairs

in

the

world that they could not wholly give themselves over to that absorption in religious matters which is characteristic of the

Qadian

party.

As

already related, their secession in the members of the true

tended naturally to accentuate

Ahmadiya remnant

their belief

in

supernatural religion

and their loyalty to the unique claims of their revered leader. How the faces of these loyal Ahmadls are turning more and more toward Qadian as a second Medina, not

140

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

Mecca, is evident from the following paragraph in the Review of Religions for January, 1917 (XV, p. 41) " More than five thousand from almost all the of

to say

:

delegates,

parts

India, attended the annual gathering of Ahmadls, and the meetings held on the 26th, 27th, and 28th December were a complete success. His Holiness the Second Successor to the Promised Messiah spoke on the remembrance of God, for five hours, and His Hazrat's 1 impres-

and instructive sermon was listened to with rapt by the spell-bound assembly of the faithful, who returned home with increased knowledge and refreshed faith. There was also The a ladies' conference, about five hundred ladies being present. blessed town of Qadian this year witnessed the truth of the Promised Messiah's great prophecy about this place, with even greater splendour and grandeur than before, and everyone, with the praise of Allah on his lips, involuntarily sang the following couplet of the Messiah The place of Qadian is now honoured, and with the gathering " together of people resembles the sacred precincts of the Ka'ba.' sive, interesting

attention

—

'

It now appears certain that the Lahore party will be " " section of All-India Moslem League absorbed into the Indian Islam, contributing to it a certain added antiChristian animus and, in part perhaps, the new Ahmadiya interpretation of the death of Jesus, whereas the Qadian possibly a party will continue as a permanent, and

gradually widening, segment of the great circle of Islam. 1

"

Lordship

" or " Excellency."

AHMADIYA BIBLIOGRAPHY —

H. D. Griswold Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Mehdi-Messiah of Qadian, Ludhiana, 1902. G. L. Thakur Dass The "Greatest Discovery " Exploded, Ludhiana, 1903. Mirza. Ghulam Ahmad The Teachings of Islam, London, 1910. Right Hon. Lord Headley A Western Awakening to Islam, London, 1915. H. D. Griswold— " The Moslem

—

—

—

Ahmadiya Movement,"

World,

II,

p. 373ff.

H. A. Walter — "The Ahmadiya Movement To-day," Moslem World, VI, R. Siraj-ud-Din — "Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a False Messiah of ff.

India," Missionary Review of the

World,

New

Series,

XX,

p. 749ff.

M. T. Houtsma — "Ahmadiya," in Revue du Monde Musulman, p. 333ff. H.A.Walter — " Qadiani," in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, X. T. M. Arnold — Acts du XII me Congris Internat. des Orientalistes, 139ff. Rome, 1899, III, Ignaz Goldziher— Vorlesungen iiber den Islam, Heidelberg, 1910, p. 313ff. N. Farquhar — Modern Religious Movements in India, New York, 1915, p. 137ff. S. G. Wilson — Modem Movements Among Moslems, New York, 1916, p. 132ff. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad — Bardhin-i-Ahmadiya, Qadian, 1880. I,

I,

p.

J.

The Review of Religions, Qadian, monthly since 1902. The Islamic Review and Muslim India, Woking, monthly

since

1912.

Government of India Census Reports, 1901 and 1911. Numerous books, periodicals and controversial pamphlets vernacular.

in

the

APPENDIX

I "

Revelation" Excerpts from article, entitled by Chaudri Fateh Muhammad Sayal, M.A., in Review of Religions, November, 1916: "

Revelations begin in dreams, as it is related of His wife says that at first the Prophet Muhammad. prophet used to have beautiful dreams, and their fulfilment was as sure as day follows night. The same has been told He first used to see by Ahmad about himself in his life. true dreams and clear visions before he received verbal revelations containing grand prophecies. It is quite intelligible that it should be so, for in order that the

should be able to work in its initial stages it It necessary that all the other senses should be at rest. is a common experience that all the senses cannot work their best at the same time. When a man with strong spiritual powers has a dream, probably he does not notice it at he sees that the dreams he has are first, but when often fulfilled, he becomes curious about them and begins to remember them in order to see if they are fulfilled or not. He finds to his surprise that they are fulfilled with wonderful accuracy, which is beyond the power of hallucination. By this time the spiritual sense has grown stronger by use, and visions are seen in a light sleep, then in a semispiritual sense is

and finally when a person is wide awake. done to save the prophet from doubt, surprise or shock. The frequency of the visions and their fulfilment convinces him of the working of the spiritual sense to such an extent that he proclaims this among other people and has the courage of conviction to say, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of my mouth shall not And the Holy Qur'an says, 'It is as sure as pass away.'

waking This is

state, all

'

your

own

speech,'

After

a

long experience of this kind,

APPENDIX

143

I

when

a person sees a future event in a vision, or is otherwise informed of it through his spiritual sense, he has no hesitation in claiming that that event shall occur as shown The difference between prophecy and him. to surmise is the same as between certainty and expectaOf course, a future event may be shown in tion. an allegorical manner, but the repeated experience of the person who sees it will explain the allegory to him. Progressing from this state, revelation becomes clearer a piece of writing may appear before the eyes, one may hear words as if spoken from the other side of a curtain, or each separate word may strike the heart as a hammer strikes the gong. Sometimes a sort of electric influence passes through the whole body, and all physical powers are suspended for a time, and the prophet utters some words which he knows are not his own. At first the revelations are very short, but as time goes on they become longer, and more frequent. This is the reason why the Prophet Muhammad had very short verses revealed to him at first, but as time went on, and he became accustomed to receive ;

revelations, the verses

became longer and were revealed

more

frequently. " Further on,

I

let

Ahmad

speak

on

this

difficult

subject. " It

is also one of the signs of the perfect one that Almighty God makes his tongue utter sweet and eloquent divine words, which have in them a divine awe, divine blessings and wonderful power of revealing deep secrets of the future. Such words are accompanied with a light '

which shows with certainty that the words proceed from a divine source, and there is not the slightest doubt about their divine origin. There is in these words a divine brilliance, and they are free from all The proIn most cases they reveal a grand prophecy. impurities. phecies so revealed relate to a great variety of subjects and in all They are distinguished from the respects they are unparalleled. predictions made by astrologists by the signs of belovedness and acceptance which are the chief characteristics. There are in them the good tidings of divine assistance and help to the recipient of the divine These matters are revealed to him, which are not revealed revelation. to others, and his prophecies disclose these deep secrets of the future which are not met with elsewhere. Such is, in short, the blessing which is granted to the tongue of the perfect one in the utterance of unparalleled words. " His eye is also granted an unparalleled power of vision, and the Sometimes perfect one can see objects hidden from ordinary sight. '

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

144

writings are brought before his eyes which have no existence in the outside word. He can see the dead, and talk with them as if they were Sometimes things at a distance of thousands of miles come living. before him in such a manner as if they were in his ken. " His ear is also granted the faculty of hearing voices which ordinary ears cannot hear. Very often he hears the voices of the angels, '

and

in

moments

He can

and restlessness finds comfort from them. voices of material things, vegetables and animals. granted a supernatural power of judgment and discernment. of affliction

also hear

His heart

"

is

Similarly a blessing is granted to his hands and feet and his body, and it often happens that his mere touch cures many

'

whole

diseases.

"

'

often takes the form of revelation) puts a question and receives an answer from God, and this process is repeated several times. During the times that the answer is communicated to him, he is under the influence of a sort of slumber. But the mere utterance of certain words in a state of slumber is no evidence of their divine origin. " It sometimes comes in languages quite unknown to the person to whom it is revealed.' "* It (the question and answer. .

.

.

A man

'

1

A

common expert

:ce

with mediums.

APPENDIX

II

FORM FOR INITIATION INTO THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT To Hazarat Khalifatul Mesih II, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud

Most Reverend

Ahmad

Sahib.

Sir,

have gone through the conditions of the Duties of Ahmadls and General I, having filled up the subInstructions, and have accepted them. joined form, send it to you and pray that my Bai'at may be accepted. He is one, having I bear witness that there is no God but Allah. no partner, and Muhammad is the servant and messenger of God. enter the son of I Ahmadiya Movement at the hands of Mahmud, and ask pardon for In future I will try my best to guard myself against all all my sins. kinds of sins. I will never set up equals to God and will give precedence to my religion before all worldly considerations. I will try my will always try to learn, I best to act upon all the laws of Islam. I will consider the teach or hear the Holy Qur'an and the traditions. I will obey you in propagation of Islam as the first of my duties. I consider our Lord Muhameverything good that you will tell me. mad (peace be upon him) to be the seal of prophets, and believe in all the claims of the Promised Messiah. Peace be with you.

Bai'dt, the Articles of

I

Faith,

(Arabic Characters.)

beg pardon from Allah my Lord for all my sins, and turn beg pardon from Allah my Lord and turn to him. I

I

to

him.

(Arabic Characters.)

O my

Lord

Pray forgive

my

O my Lord Pray forgive my O my

Lord

Pray forgive

my

have wronged my soul, and I confess sins, and there is no forgiver except thee.

all

my

sins.

have wronged my soul, and I confess and there is no forgiver except thee.

all

my

sins.

soul, and I confess no forgiver except thee.

all

my

sins.

I

I

sins, I

have wronged and there

sins,

my is

Amen

!

Amen

Signature 1

Printed at the

Ahmadiya

Printing Works, Lahore.

10

!

APPENDIX

III

CONDITION OF BAI'AT (INITIATION INTO THE

AHMADIYA MOVEMENT) The man who mind

:

—

1

accepts Bai'at should firmly

make up

his

up to the day of his death he will abstain from Shirk, up equals to God. Secondly, that he will keep away from falsehood, adultery, looking at women other than near relatives, cruelty, dishonesty, riot and and will not allow himself rebellion, and, in short, every kind of evil to be carried away by his passions, however strong they may be. Thirdly, that he will pray five times a day without fail, according to the commands of Allah and his Apostle, and to the best of his ability will try to offer his Tahajjud prayers (prayer of the latter part of the night), to invoke the blessings of God (Durud) upon his prophet, to ask pardon for his sins and the help of God; and that, remembering the blessings of God, he will always praise him. Fourthly, that he will in no way harm God's creatures generally, and Moslems particularly, under the influence of his passions neither with his hands, nor with his tongue, nor by any other means. Firstly, that

i.e., setting

:

—

Fifthly, that in every state of sorrow or pleasure, prosperity or adversity, felicity or misfortune, he will prove himself faithful to God, and that in every condition he will accept the decree of God, and in At this way he will be ready to bear every kind of insult and pain. the time of any misfortune he will never turn away from him, but rather he will advance further. Sixthly, that he will not follow vulgar customs and will abstain from evil inclination, and that he will completely submit to the authority of the Holy Qur'an, and that he will make the sayings of God and his Apostle the guiding principle of his life. Seventhly, that he will fully give up pride and haughtiness, and will pass his days with humility, lowliness, courtesy and meekness. Eighthly, that he will consider religion, the dignity of religion and the well-being of Islam dearer than life, wealth and children, and, in short, dearer than everything else.

*

Obtainable

in

pamphlet form

at the

Qadian headquarters.

APPENDIX

III

147

Ninthly, that he will be for God's sake showing sympathy with he creatures of Allah, and to the best of his power he will use his natural abilities for the welfare of God's creatures. Tenthly, that he will establish a brotherhood with me (the promised Messiah) on condition of obeying me in everything good, and keep it up to the day of his death, and this relationship will be of such a high order that its example will not be found in any worldly relationship, either of blood relations or of servant and master.

The

Articles of Faith of the

God

Ahmadiya Community.

one, and nobody is or can be his co-sharer in his self, attributes, names or worship. The angels exist. 2. God has been sending from time immemorial his apostles in 3. every country and nation for the guidance of his creatures, and we believe in every one of them whose names have been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an individually and in the rest collectively. 4. Our Book is the Holy Qur'an and our prophet is Muhammad (peace be upon him), and he is the seal of prophets. The door of inspiration has always been, and will always be, 5. As he used to open, and no attribute of God ever becomes useless. 1.

is

communion with

his good servants, so he does even now, and do up to the end of the world. This is our firm faith that divine decree (taqdir) as 6. enunciated by the Holy Qur'an is correct, and that God listens to and accepts the prayers of his creatures, and great deeds are achieved by

hold

will continue to

means

of prayer.

We

believe in the rising of the human beings after their death, and also we firmly believe that the heaven and the hell, as described by the Qur'an and the Traditions, exist and that on the day of Resurrection our prophet Muhammad will be the intercessor. 8. firmly believe that the man about whom prophecies have been made by the old prophets under different names and of whom " He it is who raised a the Holy Qur'an speaks in the verse, prophet and others of them who have not the Meccans among amongst as the second advent of our overtaken Lord them," yet Muhammad, and whom our Lord Muhammad calls Messiah the prophet and the Mahdi (the man), is Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, and besides him nobody is the promised Messiah. 9. It is our firm belief that the Holy Qur'an is a perfect book and that no new law will be required till the day of Resurrection, and that our Lord Muhammad possesses collectively all the qualities of all 7.

We

.

.

.

that after him none can, far from gaining any eminence, ever become a true believer except by complete obedience to him. We, not for a moment, believe that any old prophet will come to this place a second time, because in that we will have to admit some defect in the spiritual powers of our Lord Muhammad but we believe among his followers Reformers have appeared,and wjll continue to appear, with spiritual knowledge of a very high order. the

prophets, and

spiritual

—

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

148

Not only this, but a man can even gain prophethood by the help of our Lord Muhammad's spiritual powers. But no prophet with a new book or having been appointed direct will ever come for in this case it would be an insult to the perfect prophethood of our Lord, and this is the meaning of the seal of prophets, and in this sense the Lord has on " There is no the one hand said, prophet (i.e., an independent prophet or a prophet with a new law) after me," and on the other hand has called the coming Messiah a prophet of God. 10. According to this we believe that a man, the Promised ;

Messiah, has gained prophethood in spite of his being a follower of our Lord. believe in the miracles of the prophets, which, in the words of the Qur'an, are called signs of God, and this is our firm

We

faith that

truth

God,

of his

for the manifestation of his glory and for proving the has been, through his servants, showing signs

apostles, are beyond the

which

power

of

human

beings.

The Duties of the Ahmadiya Community. The Ahmadiya community is neither an Anjuman nor is But the meaning of the Ahmadiya movement is this, religion.

it

a

that

body of Moslems that, having recognised the Promised Messiah means of guidance, have accepted the true Islam, which was given a

it is

as a

to the

world through our Lord

Muhammad, and who

have accepted

all

the claims of the last messenger of God, viz., the Promised Messiah. Hence the obligations of the Ahmadls are the same as have been fixed by the Holy Qur'an for a Muslim, and which have been sanctioned by the usage and practice of our Lord Muhammad and his companions.

Hence, acting upon the laws of the Qur'an, the practices and sayings Prophet is a distinct duty of every Ahmadi. But since Islam considers the proclamation of the truth as one of the important duties of a Muslim, and it has been considered as one of the distinguishing features of the Muslims that they ask the people to do good and prohibit from doing evil a duty the performance of which made the Muslims so successful in the beginning, hence the Promised Messiah has laid much stress upon this point, and has made it obligatory for the members of the community that they should send a part of their inof the

—

come

This money is spent for the propato Qadian for this purpose. Hence gation of Islam on the lines fixed by the Promised Messiah. every Ahmadi should make it a rule for himself to send a part of his income for the furtherance of the objects of the movement. The amount of this contribution has not been fixed, but left to be determined zeal of a man for the the love and movement. Be the sum small or by great, it is obligatory on every Ahmadi to help the movement with his mite. Some friends spend one-tenth, and even more, of their income for the help of their religion.

The Management As

has

been

the

of the

custom

he starts a line of successors

of for

Ahmadiya Movement.

God

from

looking

time immemorial that the welfare of the

after

APPENDIX

149

III

community which

is prepared by the messengers of God, so in this age too he has started a line of successors. Without it no progress is body is incapable of performing possible, for a disorganised anything great. Hence, for the purpose of keeping the community united, and for using its potentialities collectively for the welfare This is our has been started. line of successors of Islam, a is also mentioned in Chapter XXIV, as it firm conviction,

p.

55,

that

duty of us with

successors

every this

are

Ahmadi,

blessing,

Hence it is the appointed by God. long as it pleases God to favour accept the Bai'at of the caliphs, one

as

to

after another.

All the new converts should also enter into the Bai'at successors to the Promised Messiah, or their representatives.

of

the

But

if

any reason cannot personally come to Qadian he may At present there also enter into the Bai'at by means of a letter. are two Anjumans (a) Sadr-Anjuman Ahmadiya, (b) Anjuman Taraqqi Islam under the Khalifatul Masih for carrying on the The Sadr-Anjuman Ahmadiya, according work of the movement. to the instructions of the Promised Messiah and in consultation with the Khalifatul Masih, looks after the executive and educational necessities of the community. Among some of the most important any

man

for

—

duties of

who

this

come

—

Anjuman

is looking after the comforts maintaining schools for the

of the guests

secular and religious instruction of the community, carrying out the instructions and contained in the Will of the Promised Messiah, conducting the Review of Religions. But as the propagation of Islam requires special attention, hence the Anjuman Taraqqi Islam busies itself with Those friends who send their contributions, generally this work. point out how much is to be given to the Sadr-Anjuman and how much is to be allotted to the Taraqqi Islam. As zakat (legal alms) should be kept in the Bait-ul-Mal (the treasury) so everyone on whom zakat is compulsory sends it to Qadian. It is collected by the Anjuman Taraqqi Islam, and spent according to the instructions of As it is necessary for the the successor to the Promised Messiah. progress of the movement to keep in touch with the centre, hence, according to the instructions of the Promised Messiah, an annual gathering of the community is held by the end of the month of December every year. This gathering is attended by the members of In these meetings the community from every part of the country. means are devised for strengthening the faith of the Ahmadiya to

Qadian,

This should and for enlarging its mission work. be attended by every member of the community. Besides, friends should also from time to time try to come to Qadian, and should write letters to the Khalifatul Masih (successor to the Promised Messiah) every now and then, for in this way the Khalifatul Masih feels an inclination to pray for the writer, and besides, the welfare of

community

the different

members

of the

community

also

becomes known.

The

Khalifa of the Promised Messiah was the late Hazrat Maulvi Nur-ud-Din Sahib, and the present Khalifa is Hazrat Mirza Bashir-udDin Mahmud Ahmad Sahib.

first

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

ISO

Some

Instructions for the

New Ahmadls

Promised Messiah was a messenger of God, and the denying of the Apostles of God is a dangerous boldness and deprives a man of faith, hence, according to the Qur'an, the Traditions of the seal of prophets, and the sayings of the Promised Messiah, it is the duty of every Ahmadi that he should pray under the leadership of Ahmadi Imams only. But in those places where Ahmadi Imams can not be found, he should offer his prayers alone, and should pray to God to give him a Jama 'at, or Society, of his own, because a true believer can never remain alone. Similarly, it has been prohibited that Ahmadls should give their daughters in marriage to nonAhmadis, for wives are generally influenced by their husbands, and Since the

thus it is making a soul apostate. Likewise, Ahmadls should not attend the funeral service of non-Ahmadis, for it would amount to interceding to God for a man who has proved himself an enemy by-

denying and opposing the Promised Messiah.

APPENDIX WHAT

IS

IV

ISLAM

F

1

A

belief in One and only God (Allah), good attributes and absolutely free from all frailties, is its first principle. Those who follow Islam are called Muslims or Musalmans, but not Muhammadans. They worship One God the All-mighty, the All-knowing, the Ail-just, the Cherisher of the Worlds, the Master of the East and the West, the Author of the Heavens and Earth, the Creator of all that exists. The God of Islam is Loving and Forgiving, but also just and swift in reckoning. He is the Friend the Guide the Helper. Every place is sacred to him. There is none like him. He has no partner or co-sharer. He has He is free from passions, and is indibegotten no sons or daughters. From him all have come and to him all return. visible, impersonal. He is the Light of the Heaven and the Earth, the Glorious, the Magnificent, the Beautiful, the Eternal, the Infinite, the First and the Last. The Prophet of Islam was Muhammad, whom the Muslims must follow. He was the last Prophet, and finally and faithfully preached and established the doctrine of the Unity of God in a way that it can never now be shaken by any amount of progress of rationalism. Those who believe in the doctrine of the unity of God are expected to respect his servant and messenger, who established that doctrine. Muhammad is highly reverenced by all the Muslims, but is recognized as a man, as are other Prophets, like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc., who are all respected by Muslims as righteous persons sent down

Isldm

possessing

is

all

a simple faith. the conceivable

—

;

;

by the loving God to guide his children. All the Prophets, whether East or the West, the North or the South, brought the same common message from the Creator, but their followers afterwards altered or corrupted it, until Muhammad came, who left behind him an uncorruptible book. The Gospel of Muslims is Al-Qur'an. It teaches man how to hold direct communion with his Maker, and also how to deal with his " Be It has enjoined, fellow-beings as well as God's other creatures. constant in prayer, for prayer preserveth from crimes and from that which is blamable, and the remembrance of Allah is surely a most But it has also said, "Blessed are they who fulfil the sacred duty." their compact and who join covenant of God and break not of the

;

1

From an

editorial in the Islamic

Review, IV, pp. 248-250.

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

152

God hath bidden to be joined; and who fear their Lord and dread an ill-reckoning and who from a sincere desire to please their Lord are constant amid trials, and observe prayers, and give alms in secret and openly, out of what we have bestowed on them and turn aside evil with good for them there is the recompense of that abode, gardens of eternal habitation, into which they shall enter, together with such as shall have acted rightly from among their fathers; their wives and their posterity and the angels shall go in unto them by Peace be with you because you have endured every portal (saying), "

together what

;

;

;

'

;

with patience

'

(Sura

xiii,

20-24).

book which has withstood the ravages of time, and stands to-day, after more than thirteen centuries, word for word and letter for letter as it came out of the mouth of the Prophet Muhammad. There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims who know the whole of it by heart. It is an uncorrupted and a living book, and the religion

Al-Qur'an

it

preaches

is

There

is

is

a

a living religion. Priesthood in Islam.

No There is no intercession, no redemption, no saviourship. Every soul is responsible for its own actions. Islam points out both the ways the one which brings to God, and that is good; the other which leads away from him, and that is evil. No one can carry the burden of the other. Sincere " O My servants, who have transrepentance secures forgiveness. gressed to your own injury, despair not of Allah's mercy, for all sins doth Allah forgive gracious and merciful is He" (Qur'an, Chap.

—

;

XXXIX,

54). Islam docs not recognize any difference of sex in piety. Whether males or females, those who act rightly get their salvation. It does not lay down that human beings are born sinners, or that woman was instrumental in the "fall of Adam." The holy Prophet has said, " Paradise lies at the feet of mother." Islam forbids impurity of every kind. Cleanliness, both of body and mind, is essential for a Muslim. Physical cleanliness is a natural concomitant to the idea of moral purity, for no man can approach him who is All Pure and Clean in a state of uncleanliness. All intoxicants are forbidden, so practically

is

gambling and the

flesh of

the pig.

Suicide

is

unknown among Muslims.

Islam enjoins prayers, fixed alms to the needy, fasting, affection and kindness to all creatures even animals and birds. Islam encourages rational views and scientific research, by declaring that sun and moon and all the elements are subservient to human intellect and will in a great measure, and man can utilize them if he discovers the secret of those laws according to which they work. to parents,

—

APPENDIX V THE MISSION TO ENGLAND The British

Muslim service in Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn's

following popular account of a

London,

in

connection with

mission,

which was clipped from the

New

York

December 21, 1913, may be of interest. Nawab Zafar 'AH Khan, here referred to, was the editor of a Lahore Muslim paper, the Zaminddr, the publication of Times

of

which was suspended by the Panjab Government, because of its political activities, after the beginning of the war: PEER AT MOSLEM SERVICE Other Converts to Muhammadanism are announced in London. London, December 6. Lord Headley, whose recent conversion the Muslim faith caused a sensation, took part a few days ago in a " of Muhammadans at Caxton for or

—

to

jooma-nimaz," the Muslims in England, announced several more converts, including Viscount de Pudre of Antwerp, Capt. Stanley Marquis, and Miss Lilley Ranson. Two other women, he said, had been initiated, one belonging to the middle class and one to the " upper ten," but for the present they wished their names to be secret. Lord Headley has adopted the Muhammadan name of " Saifurrahman Sheikh Rahmahillah Farooq." With Lord Headley as one of the worshippers, some thirty Muhammadans of all nationalities met yesterday at Lindsey Hall, The service began shortly before noon. The Notting Hill Gate. worshippers were Turks, Indians, Persians, and men of other nationalities. Lord Headley arrived shortly before the service began, with the Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn. Mr. Fisher, a young Englishman who has lived for some time in Northern Africa, and has been a Muhammadan for ten years, took part in the service. After the floor had been covered with spotless white sheets the men all removed their shoes, and for a time sat cross-legged on the floor. Then one of the company stood up, and in a loud voice just as they call from the minarets of the mosques in the East cried out " Allah-o-Akbar!" (God is great!) gathering prayers.

Hall, leader

The Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn,

of

—

—

:

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

154

The worshippers who did not wear the fez covered their heads with pocket handkerchiefs. All touched the ground with their foreheads as they said their devotions. For some minutes the worshippers alternately stood up and bowed their heads to the ground in silent prayer.

The Khwajah Kamal-ud-DIn, a tall imposing Indian with a black beard and wearing a large dark turban, then gave an address with a text from the Sermon on the Mount. After the Moulvie, Zafar AH Khan, gave an address. "It is not true what Kipling says, that 'East is east and West is "The two are west, and never the twain shall meet,'" he said. rapidly meeting each other, and Lord Headley has done much to bridge the gulf between them." Lord Headley then came in front of the worshippers to read the "dua" the prayer. Some extracts from it are as follows "May we, O God, our preserver and comforter, endeavour to

—

:

— prophets Moses,

of thy holy Christ, and from their teachings may we learn humility and Give us courage to follow in the footsteps of thy propatience. phet, the divinely inspired Muhammad, whose memory do thou, O God, keep fresh and green in our hearts."

follow

the

in

footsteps

Muhammad — and .

.

.

APPENDIX

VI

AHMADIYAS DECLARED TO BE MUHAMMADANS Ruling

Hakim

The The

of the

Khalil

Patna High Court, 21st December, 1916. Malik Israfi vs.

Ahmad vs. Malik Israfi, and Hakim Khalil Ahmad.

facts of the case

were

plaintiff alleged that followers of Hazrat MIrza

as follows

:

they were

— Muhammadans

and Ghulam Ahmad that they used to offer up their prayer with other followers of their own sect in a mosque in Dillawarpur, Monghyr that they did so up to the 2nd December, 1911, when they were illegally and maliciously interfered with and prevented from entering the mosque by the defendants' 1st party, at ;

;

the instigation of defendants' 2nd party. The plaintiffs used for declaration that they had a right to offer prayers in the said mosque with the people of their own sect, and that the defendants had no right to prevent them from doing so, and that the defendants be permanently restrained from interfering with right of the plaintiffs to offer prayers in the said mosque, collectively and indiThe Court of first instance held that the vidually. plaintiffs were Muhammadans, and that they were entitled to offer prayers individually behind the Hanifi Imam of the mosque, but that they were not entitled to form a separate The suit was congregation for prayer in the mosque. dismissed. An appeal to the District Judge was dismissed, but he ordered it to be declared that the plaintiffs are at liberty to worship in the disputed mosque behind the recognised Imam of the mosque, in the same congregation with the defendants and other Sunnis. Both sides appealed to the High Court. Chamier, C. J. There are cross appeals against a decree of the District Judge of Monghyr, modifying

—

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

156

a decree of the Subordinate Judge of Monghyr, which dismissed the plaintiffs' suit. The plaintiffs are professed followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Khadian in the Punjab, who acquired considerable notoriety as a preacher about thirty-five years ago, and attracted a considerable following in the Punjab, and elsewhere. The followers of Ghulam Ahmad are The known generally as Ahmadis or Khadianis. plantiffs' is

case

was

that, regarded as

generally they are

faith,

true

though dissenters from what the orthodox Muhammadan

Muhammadans.

December, 1911, they were

They

say

that

the habit of offering up their prayers, both individually and as a congregation, in Mahalla Dilawarpur, in the in a certain mosque town of Monghyr, but were prevented by the defendants from doing so. They claimed a declaration of their right to offer prayers in the mosque, both individually and as a congregation, and also an injunction restraining the The defendants defendants from interfering with them. resisted the suit on various grounds, and inter alia pleaded The that the plaintiffs were not Muhammadans at all. Subordinate Judge held that the plaintiffs were Muhammadans, but were not entitled to form a separate congreHe held that they were gation for prayer in the mosque. entitled to offer prayers individually behind the Hanifi Imam of the mosque, but as they did not desire to do so he dismissed the suit. On appeal, the District Judge agreed that the plaintiffs must be regarded as Muhammadans, and that they could not be allowed to form a separate congregation for prayers in the mosque, but gave them a declaration that they were entitled to worship in the mosque behind the recognized Imam, and in the same congregation as the defendants. In the second appeal the plaintiffs contend that their claim should have been decreed as laid, and the defendants contend that the suit should have been dismissed altill

in

together.

Some attempt was made on behalf of the defendants to controvert the concurrent findings of the Courts below, that the plaintiffs were Muhammadans, but it was not

APPENDIX seriously

The

pressed.

VI

Courts

157

below

have

given

that the plaintiffs are Muhammadans, notwithstanding their pronounced dissent from orthodox opinion on several important articles

convincing

of

to

reasons

the faith. be entitled

for

The to

holding

plaintiffs, as

enter

the

Muhammadans, appear

mosque

they please, congregation behind the recognised Imam, but as they profess to regard orthodox Muhammadans as infidels, it is unlikely that they will take advantage of the decree made by the

and

to

offer

up

'

prayers

with

the

if

regular

'

District Judge.

The

important question in the case

plaintiffs are entitled to pray as a separate

is,

whether the

congregation in

The the mosque, i.e., behind an Imam of their own. claim is an extravagant one, and there can be little doubt that if it is allowed there will be serious trouble in the The plaintiffs contend that every mosque is mosque. dedicated to the worship of God, and is open to any Muhammadan, to whatever sect he may belong, who The cases of Queen-Empress vs. chooses to pray in it. Ramzan

Azim-ullah (2), and Jnagu vs. and other authorities on which the

(1), Ataullah vs.

Ahmad-ullah (3),

rely, certainly support this contention, but they lend no support to the further contention advanced by the plaintiffs, namely, that the members of any and every sect

plaintiffs

entitled to pray in every mosque as a separate The congregation behind an Imam chosen by themselves. mosque in question has been in existence for about 200 years, and appears to have been used all along by orthodox

are

Sunni Muhammadans. In all probability it was established Sunni Muhammadans, although it may

for the benefit of

be that other

Muhammadans

are entitled

to

pray in

it

individually, or join in the congregational worship which is conducted there. authority whatever has been cited

No

for the proposition that half a dozen members of a new sect (it is said that there are only so many Ahmadls in Monghyr) are entitled to thrust themselves into a mosque

which has been used by orthodox Sunni Muhammadans form a separate congregation there, and disturb the old standing arrangements for the conduct of

for generations,

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

158

It is suggested that certain in the mosque. times might be allotted to the plaintiffs for congregational

worship

Such an arrangement worship with their own Imam. It appears to be unknown to the Muhammadan law. would curtail the time available for the orthodox Sunnis who have used the mosque for so many years. As already stated, the plaintiffs regard orthodox Sunnis as infidels. The orthodox Sunnis, in their turn, regard the Ahmadis as infidels, and have, we are told, formally denounced them as such. There would almost inevitably be serious It appears that what the plaintiffs cause acute friction (if not worse), if they actually disturb the orthodox in their prayers in the mosque. As there is no authority for the contention advanced by the plaintiffs, and it is clear that the rights enjoyed by the orthodox for generations would be seriously impaired by the intrusion of the plaintiffs as a separate congregation, and it is certain that admission of their claims could result in umseemly conflicts in the mosque, I am of opinion that their claim should be rejected. I would dismiss both appeals with costs. I agree that this appeal should be dismissed, Roe, J. the sole object of the case is to secure a decree that the appel-

trouble in the mosque.

wish to do

is

like to

—

entitled to deliberately abstain from joining in the ordinary worship of the mosque, and to appoint an Imam of their own to read prayers for them after the The learned concluded. ordinary worship has been Subordinate Judge, who tried the case, is himself a Muhammadan gentleman, and he quotes it in his judgment as a well known rule of worship, that where people deliberately come late to prayers they will not be allowed to have a This seems to me to be in second service of their own. accordance with an extract from B 7 and B 13 of volume of the chapter relating to Azan of Zadul Maad, " which runs Even if he waits for the Imam of his own sect, having removed himself from the midst of the men of different sect, while offering up prayers with the congregation, this act of his will not be considered as his turning away from the congregation with abhorrence when it is known that he is waiting for a congregation which is most lants are

—

:

—

APPENDIX

VI

159

This seems to imply that if he does turn away perfect." from the' regular prayers with abhorrence he cannot be allowed to have a special Imam of his own. In the case before us the plaintiffs state clearly that they will not under any circumstances worship behind an Imam who does not recognize Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Having made that statement of fact, it seems to me clear that they are not permitted to have subsequent services and worship under an Imam of their own. I agree, therefore, that the appeals should be dismissed with costs.

APPENDIX

VII

AN AHMADIYA CHALLENGE The following letter appeared in Hablul Matin, a Calcutta Muslim paper, in December, 1915. It is given without corrections exactly as it appeared :

—

Calcutta,

5th December, 1915.

To

The Dear

Editor of "Hablul Matin."

Sir,

I send herewith for favour of publication a copy of my letter to the address of the Rev. S. G. Eddy American Missionary 1 which was delivered to him yesterday. It is expected that the reverend gentleman will agree to the public discussion suggested, and that the dates will shortly be fixed which may be convenient to both the parties. The reverend gentleman has given out in his lectures that the regeneration of India through Christianity is his life's mission therefore it is hoped that he will agree to

the proposal suggested. I

Brendreth Road,

Ahmadaya

Very

remain,

faithfully yours,

Mirza.

Buildings,

Yaqub Beg.

Lahore.

4th December, 1915.

To

The

S. G. Eddy. American Missionary.

Rev.

Y.M.C.A., Lahore.

Dear

Sir,

I hear that in your public lectures in Lahore, which I am sorry to say I have not been able to attend, you have put forward the startling claim that Christianity is the only religion which is calculated to

1 The original copy of this letter was received by G. Sherwood Eddy, Esq., then Secretary for Asia of the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, on the eve of his departure from Lahore after delivering a series of five lectures on the Christian religion, in which attacks on other religions were scrupulously avoided.

APPENDIX

VII

161

mankind. I write those lines on behalf of a great majority of people here who differ from you in this contention. In view of the great importance of your claim for mankind generally and India especially I venture to suggest that a public discussion may be held on the claims of Christianity as a religion. I hope that elevate

in the interests of

humanity you

will kindly agree to this proposal,

date for this discussion.

and

further suggested that the following points should receive special attention in this discussion 1. That the Christian doctrine of the elemental wickedness of man with all the consequences flowing from it has proved a source of degradation to mankind, and the civilisation of Europe dates from the final rejection of this doctrine. 2. That Christian Ethics has proved a miserable failure in the life of individuals as well as nations, and that the entire history of mankind is opposed to the principles of Christian morality. 3. That the present state of European thought and life is wholly

fix a suitable

It is

:

both Christian

—

dogma and

Christian ethics. criticism has shattered the Bible into pieces, and assuming that the message of Christ is still preserved intact in this book, it never claimed to be a universal message. 5. That the Quran claims to be a universal book, and that all the healthy institutions of the modern world can be traced directly or

opposed 4.

to

That modern European

indirectly to

its

influence.

That Islam is the only religion which can keep pace with the modern ideas. growth 7. That the failing off of the Muslim World from the ideals of the prophet is due to the assimilation by Musalman people of nonMoslem views of life. 6.

of

Yours

truly,

Mirza Yaqub Beg, L.M.S., Honorary Secretury the Ahmadla Amjuman Ishaat-i-Islaw, Lahore

11

INDEX Karim, Maulvi ^A BDUL Abdul Latif,

68 Maulvi, Af-

ghanistan 70, 74

Abdul

Latif,

Ceylon

Professor,

120

Abdulla Atham 43, 44, 111 Abdulla Chakralvi 40 Abdulla of Timapur 46

Abdur Rahman, Syed 93 Ablutions 108

Abraham

128, 151

Abrogation, of other religions by Islam 109; of Qur'anic verses denied 42, 56 Abu Bakr 122 Abu Hurairah 30 Abyssinia, Christian king of 73 Adam 25, 26, 28, 82, 152 Adi Samaj 105

Adoption of Islam, see Initiation Advent, second, of Elijah, John in his spirit and power 28, 88; of Jesus,

Ahmad

in

his

spirit

and power 25-37, 52, 77, 88,

122,

132,

137,

78, of 138;

ernment 14, 35, 71-74; last days and death 23, 24, 113; claims, Promised Messiah 25-37, Mahdi 37-39; Incarnation of Krisna 50, 51; other titles 51, 116, 131, 132; signs, miracles and prophecies 40-50, 105-108; elements of orthodoxy in teaching 53-58; of Sufiism 58-64; of heresy 70-74, 90-94; reactionary character of teaching 64-67; criticism of Christianity 24, 75, 81, 94-99; of Islam 35, 68-70; of of Hinduism 24, 101-105;

Sikhism 108; of Buddhism 109; conception of Jesus and the Christian Scriptures 77-80, 8294; relation to Bashir-ud-Din's claims 122; relation to Baha'ism 53, 138; present attitude

Ahmadls toward 124, 139, 140; final estimate of 131-133,

of

138

Ahmad Khan,

Sir Syed 17, 66, 67, 133, 136, 137

Muhammad, Ahmad 55, 147 Afghanistan 19, 70, 74, 75, 90, 91; Amir of 70, 74 Africa, North 153 " Age of the New Testament, The" 130 Agra 92 Agreement, Muslim (ijnid ) 42, 67, 132

Ahmad, Muhammad,

Ahl-i-HadisT7 Ahl-i-Qur'an 40 Ahmad, Mirza Ghulam, meaning

Ahmadiya community, name

1

name 30; birth 13; early life 14-15; founder of movement 16, 104, 132; literary work 16-18; character 18-23; loyalty to Gov-

of

of

Dongola

72.

Ahmad, Ahmad,

Syed, of Syed, of

Oudh 72 Mysore 72

Ahmadi, see Ahmadiya Ahmadiya Association,

Ceylon

120

Ahmadiya buildings, Lahore 126, 161 111;

24, 111; opposition of orthodox 111; size 112; first Khalifa 113; political contro-

origin 16,

versy and

resentment

against

Bashir-ud-Din 113, 114; second Khalifa 114; split 114-116, 139;

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

164

Qadian party 116-125; Lahore party 116, 124-130;

mission to

England 120-130; significance of 136-140; conditions of initiation and articles of belief 123,

151-153; duties and 148-150; management Ahmadis declared Muslims 145-148,

128,

Muslim

Apologetics,

Eschato-

127,

134,

136

Ahmadiya commu-

in

Apostacy nity 150

in

;

Islam 74, 97, see

Murtadd

155ff._

Ahmadiya

periodicals,

see

Peri-

odicals

Ahmadiya

Antwerp 153 Apocalyptic hopes, see Iogy Apocrypha 84

Apostles of God 146, 147, 148, 150 of Jesus, see Disciples ;

societies, see Society

Akbar, Allah-o, (God

is

great)

153

Apostolic Church in Zion, Christian 45

Arabs,

Aleppo 74 Alfdruq 117

22, 68,

117

Alfazl 113,

Arabic

Arabia,

14,

15,

33, 40, 41, 64, 66, 109, 117, 121, 136,

30, 73,

138

Al Ghazali 131

Arkan

Alhakam 117

71. Arts 134

Al'-Hallaj 38 'AH' 17

(Pillars of Islam) 57, 58,

Articles of Faith, Ahmadiya 147, _ 148, 151-152, 161 Arya Samaj 16, 17, 43, 51, 99, _ 103, 104, 111, 135, 136 '

Aligarh 45, 66, 133, 134 Allah, see

All-India

God Moslem

League

114, 126, 136, 140 Almsgiving 58, 151, 152 America, references to, in of Religions \1

67,

Asaf, ("to gather") 93 Ascension of Jesus 84, 107, 132,

Review

American Messiah, The, Dowie 32

American Missionary, Eddy 160

Amir

'

AH, Syed

an,

G.

S.

17, 64, 65, 67,

135, 136, 137

Amir

Afghanistan 70, 74 Ananikian, Prof. M. H. 74 Anas, tradition from 36 Angel, Ahmad 37; Gabriel 23, 54 Angelic, children 129; lives 98 Angels 61, 67, 144, 151 Animals' voices 144 of

Anjuman-i- Ahmadiya of Ceylon 120 Sadr 57 Anjuman-Ishd'at-i-Isldm 94, 114, ;

124, 125, 126, 161

Anjuman

138, see Cross,

Ascetics,

Taraqqi-i-Isldm 117, 121, 149 Anti-Christ (Dajjal) 31, 38, 96 Anti-Christian 135, 140

The

Muslim

107,

124, see

Darwish Asia 13, 136, 160 Aspects of Islam, by Macdonald 21, 135.

Assam 47 Assyria 91 Astrologers 143

Ath

ThalabI, "Stories of the Prophets," by 78 Avatar, Ahmad, of Kri§na 50; the Brahman 51 Nanak, the, of the Hindus, 106, sec Incar;

nation

Awakening

of

Islam,

Heaford 75

DABAR 13 ° Babism 134 Badakhshin 91 Badr 104, 117 Al-Baghawi 30 Baha'ism 53, 138

The,

by

INDEX and its Wilson 138 Baha'UIIah53, 138

Claims,

by

32 from

13, 15,

Letters

a

Living Dead Man 23 Barlaam and Josaphat92

Barzakh (intermediate

48,

47,

118,

49,

120,

133 Bengal, East 118 Bernier 91 Bhagalpur 118 Bhin 45

Ahmadiya

by

professor of 125 Ahmadiya school 125; Ahmad Khan's attitude

80,

161,

;

higher criticism

see

Old

of

Testament,

New Testament Biblical World,

the,

Christian

Scriptures

79; Granth Sahib 106; Qur'an 147, 148, 152; for every none after the people 109 Qur'an 123 Books, the holy, of God 25 77,

;

Brahma 101, 105 Brahman Avatar, 51

Buddhism 17, 109 Bulbul Shah 93 Bulgaria 49 Bull of Pope Gregory XIII 72 Pius V 72 ,, ,, ,,

of

of

Muhammad

Krisna 50, see Mani-

the,

CALCUTTA

64, 68, 105, 160

Cambridge, England 127 Cambridge Local College and Examination 125 Campbell, Rev. R. J. 18 Cana, Jesus' miracle at 83, 85

Canada 34 Cannanore 119 Capital punishment 73 not wanted low, Castes,

by

Ahmad

The 18

Bibliothcque dc Carabas 92 Bihar 118 Bombay Advocate 119 Bombay City 138 Bombay Presidency 112

Book,

Bubonic Plague, A Revealed Cure for the, Ahmad 41 " Buddha of theby Ahmad

festation.

;

;

;

37;

in

Syed toward 134

;

Burma 109 Ahmad,

;

taught

48;

Muslim Association 127 war with Russia 31 Brotherhood, with Ahmad 147 of Islam 73 " 130 " Brotherhood, Universal E. G. 18 Browne,

Burn:,

Bible, the authority of 26; Contrasted with Qur'an 54; Muhammadan attitude toward 79 Ahmad 's attitude toward 79,

SO; quoted writers 83

;

Government

liberal

52

62

15,52, 109, 114, il6, 122/123, 137, 145

Bengal

108

East,"

state)

Mahmud Ahmad

Bashir-ud-Din

17, 105, 135 British, coming to India 31, 108 rule in India 13, 35, 37, 71, 75,

;

Barahin-i-Ahmadiya Elsa,

Brahmanbaria, E. Bengal 118

Brahma Samaj

Bai'at 16, 111, 145, 146, 149 Bait-ul-Mal 124, 149 Balfour, E., Cyclopedia of India 105 Baptist Missionary Society, NewZealand 118 Baqar'Id, or 'Id-uz-Zuha 43

Barker,

165

Ahmad,

97 Cawnpore 113

Caxton Hall, London 127, 153 Celibacy 66 of Census report, of India 111 Bengal, Bihar and Orissa 118; of the Punjab 98, 112 ;

Central Islamic Society 127 Century Bible, The 27 Ceremonialism of Islam 35, 68,

69

Ceylon 118, 120 Ceylon Independent 120 Chakmlvi, Abdulla 40 Chamars 97

57,

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

166

Chandals 97 Chicago, U.S.A. 21 Chief Court of Panjab, decision of

42

China 118

of Islam, new school of 67; of United States and Canada, crimes of 34, see Priesthood, Maulvls, Missionaries.

Chiragh'Ali, Maulvl 135, 136 Chiragh Din 43 Chittagong College 120 Chittu, Shaikh Muhammad 40 Chola (cloak) of Nanak 106 Christ, see Jesus Christ, Dictionary

and

of,

Clergy

the

Hastings 78, 79, 86 Christ in Jewish Literature, by Herford 86

Muhammadan

Litera-

ture, by Sell and Margoliouth 78, 79 Christ, The Moslem, by Zvvemer 39, 77, 78

Christ,

Unknown

Life

of,

by

Notovitch 92

"Christendom and Islam," 130 Christian Apostolic Church,

The

45 Christian Civilisation 69, 75, 100 Christian era, history of the 94 Christian king of Abyssinia 73 of Christian misrepresentation Islam 126, 129, 130 Christian rule 73, 75 Christian scholarship 80 Christian teacher, a 19, 78 Christianity, attacks on 127, 129, 136, 137 controversy on the part of 16, 81, 99, 111, 137; conversions from and to, see ;

Converts; corruption of 79, 80, 99; departure from Jesus' teaching 89; error regarding Jesus' death 90, 91; Eschato96,

logy 25ff; ethics and morality 161; Missions and Missionaries, see Missionaries power of 133, ;

134; Scriptures of, see Bible; a source of Islam 64; women in 99, 127.

Chronicles,

Book

Old Testament Chuhras 98

of,

First,

at Aligarh 66, 134; of Lahore party 124; Cambridge Local 125; Oriental 126 Commentaries, Commentators, on Old Testament 27, 134; on Qur'an 79, 121 Companions of Muhammad 148

College,

Gospels

Christ in

and Military Gazette, Lahore 74 Claim to Promised Messiahship, My, by Ahmad 25 Cleanliness of Muslims 152 Civil

see

Comparative religions 52.

Comrade, The 136 Conference of Religions, Lahore 17

Congress

(Indian

National),

League (All India Moslem) scheme 126 Constantinople 74

Contemporary Revietv, The 18 Converts, to the Ahmadiva movement 46, 103, 118, 133, 134, to Baha'ism 138: to 145; Christianity 97, 125; to Islam 72, 73, 135, 153. Cornhill, History of Israel 91 County of London Sessions 128

Cow, sacred to Hindus 101 Creation, new 60; of souls 102 Creative act of Allah, Adam 82 Jesus 77, 82 Creator, the, God 150, 152 Creed of Muhammad 22, 136, see ;

Kalima Crime, Crimes, of ancestors damning their descendants 129; of clergy and missionaries 34, 100; of Lord Head ley 128; of sweepers 98; prayer keeping from 152 Crimes of Preachers 34 Criminal tribes, the 126 Critical attitude of Ahmad 24 Critical

Ahmad

judgment 18; in

community 139

the

absent,

in

Ahmadlya

INDEX the the higher, of Bible 18, 80, 161; of the Qur'an 121

Criticism,

Cross, the, Jesus' cry on 86; Jesus' suffering on 95; Jesus' alleged escape from 42, 76, 88, 89, 90, 91; to be broken by Jesus 30 Crucifixion, doctrine of, rejected

by

Muhammad

leged

attempt

78; Jesus'

al-

escape 85

to

;

Jesus' desertion before 97 Curse, Curses, pronounced by Ahmad on his enemies 30, 43ff; by Jesus on the fig tree 83 Custom, of Muhammad, see Sunna; of Islam to-day 135 Cuttack 118 Cyclopedia of India, Balfour 105 Cyrus, king of Persia 27

\~\AJJAL ^ 96

(Anti-Christ) 31, 38,

Damascus 20 John Daniel, Mr. 19, 20 Dar-ul-Harb 71 Ddr -ul-Isldm 71 ;

of

92

Darwlshes, banned 124 Qalandar Senusite order of order of 108 72 ;

;

Dayanand

Swami

Sarasvati,

103,

De Massignon, Kitdb tit Taiv&sin 38 Dera Baba Nanak, Panjab 106, 108

Deputy Commissioner, Lahore 42 Desai, Rev. N. 46

De

C

h

r

i

s t

i

a n

i

t

y 91, 138

;

69, 139; Lahore 68, party 125; Muhammad in contrast to Jesus 132, 137; raised by Ahmad 42; by Jesus 77, 84, 137; seen by Ahmad 63, 144 Debates and discussions, public 118, 119, 126, 127, 160, 161

Islam

Debendra Nath Tagore 105 Deccan, the 46, 118, 119 Decree, of God 146, 147; of District Judge, Monghyr 156 Deity, of Buddha 109; of Rama 102; of Jesus 86, 87, sec God Delhi 47, 133

Dementia of Ahmad suggested 19, 20 Democracy of Islam 97

Mukaddima

Slane,

20,

30,

38

Deuteronomy,

Book

Driver's Interna-

of

Commentary on, in tional Critical Commentary 27, see Old Testament

of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory, by D. B.

Development

Macdonald 65

Ahmad 15 Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, Hastings' 78, 79, 86 Dictionary of Islam, Hughes' 71, 74 Dilawar Husain 66 Dilavvarpur, Monghyr 155, 156 Diabetes of

138; of Disciples, of Ahmad Jesus 44, 80, 90', 95, 99 Discoveries, great, of Ahmad, absence of abrogated verses in Qur'an 42 Arabic the mother of Cure for languages 41 ;

;

Bubonic Plague 41, 42 of Jesus in

a

135

Dead,

167

Kashmir 93

;

tomb Nanak, ;

Muslim 106 "of

Diseases,

cured by

Ahmad 15, Ahmad 144

in India Disloyalty, of Lahore unrest ;

Ahmad

24;

20,

see

74,

party

to

116

Divorce 68 Doctrine of person Khalifa 122

of

second

Douglas, Prof. J. A. 92 Dowie, J. A. 21, 32 43, 45, 49, 112 Doyle, Sir A. C. 23 Dreams, interpretation of 20, 143, see Visions

Commentary on Deuteronomy 27

Driver,

Drunkenness, in

Islam

in

35,

Europe 99, 129 69

;

of

;

Jesus

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

168 alleged 85, 86 ley

of

;

Lord Head-

85

128

;

of Jesus defined 34 succesnot to be prayed for 150 ;

89

ful

;

Dulunijal, Panjab 45 Durud ( Prayer invoking a blessing) 146

England, Muslim Mission

17ARTHQUAKE, *-

Sign of the Messiah's advent 28 of 1905 48, 49

English, Bible 125; High School at Qfidian 117; periodicals of

East, the, Jesus' alleged residence in 90, 91, 92 East, the Far 120 East and West, God the Master

party 117; Lahore party 113, 126; translations of the Qur'an 121, 126 Esau, Jewish name of Jesus 77 Eschatology, of Jews and Christians 25-30; of Muslims 30-31, 37-39, 49, 132, 137, 138 Essays, Indiati and Islamic, by

;

the prophets of 151 East, The, and the West 18 of 151

;

East Bengal 118 Eclecticism,

of

Babism and

Ahmadlya movement

the 134, 136

Bashlr-ud-DIn 109 Eclipse of Sun and Moon, sign of the Messiah's advent 30 Eddy, G.S. 160 Edinburgh, World's Missionary Conference at 18 Educated Muslims 116, 118 Education, Muslims behind in 133, 134; Western 66, 133; of Qadiin of Lahore party 124 of women at party 116, 149 Qadiin 117 138

;

of

;

;

Egypt

18; Elias, see Elijah Elijah, death of 84

second coming 28, 87 Dr. Dowie's claim to be the second 21, 45; John's ;

;

coming 28, 88 Elizabeth,

in his spirit

and power

Queen 72 Encyclopedia Biblica, The 18,80 88 Encyclopedia Britannica, The 18, 91 Encyclopedia oj Islam, The Leyden 18 Encyclopedia oj Religion and Ethics, The, Hastings' 103 Encyclopedia oj Religious Knowledge, The New Schajj-Berzog 92 Enemies, of Ahmad denounced 16,

to 118, 120, 125ff, 138, 153, 154; references to, in Review of Religio)is 17

Ahmadlya movement, Qadiin

' '

' '

S. Khuda Bukhsh 64, 66, 68 Ethics, Christian 161; of Islam 131 European, civilization 161; conversion to Islam 129 drunken;

debauchery, etc. 99, 129; scholars 134 style in house 121 Evangelistic Societies, Christian 96 ness,

;

Eve 25 foresworn 146, 148; in the world 131; overcome by God 150; Spirits 83 Examination, Cambridge Local 125; Matriculation, of Panjab University 125 Ezekiel, Book of, sec Old TestaEvil,

ment

UAITH OF ISLAM, THE, r E. Sell 37

by

Faith of the Crescent, The, by J. Takle 118 Fakhr-ud-Din ar-RazI 79 Famine, sign of the Messiah's advent 28 Faqir 108 Far East, The, 120 Farquhar, J. N. 92, 133, 134 Fasting 58, 67, 107, 129, 152 See Roza, Sanm Fath AH Shah 46 Fath-i-Isldm 16 Father, the, in the Trinity 94 '

INDEX Fatiha, Surat-al 41 Fatwa 16, 69, 70 see Festivals, religious 101, Id. Fetishism 101 Finality of the Christian Religion, The, by G. B. Foster 17 Finances, of Qadian party 118, 124, 148, 149; of Lahore party 126; of Woking Mission 130 Fire,

101

in India

worshipped

The, see Hell Fisher, Mr. 151

"Five

Edward 64

Ahmad

of

72

God

Forgiveness, of Jesus 88; of 151, 152

Form, for reception England 128 ;

into the

into Islam in for reception

movement

Ahmadiya

145

Formalism

Forman

of Islam 136, 139 Christian College, Lahore

46, 126 Foster, G. B. 17

"Fraud theory" 90 French writer, Friday, day

Ahmad's

A

death

of Jesus'

134

Adam's

of

and

births 26; prayers 41,

119, 127, 128, 151 Fuller, Sir B. 47

" Fundamental Doctrines of Muslim Faith, The,"

Ahmad

Future,

the

by

57

Funeral service 150 life

of

non-Ahmadls

59, 60-63,

123,

152

;

the

Angel

Gairdner, Rev.

23, 54

W.

H. T.

condemned

35,

65,

99, 129, 152

Ganges water 101 Gardens

103, 151; protect 49; revealing truth source of all religion 105; 109; union with 60 unity of 106,

Ahmad

ing

;

107, 128; writing on Nanak's Chola 106 "God and Science" 130 Gods in the Trinity 94 Gog (Ydji'ij) and Magog 31

Goldziher, I. 27, 131, 134 Gospel, brought by missionaries 97; Jesus' teachings in 88; taken to the ten lost tribes 91, see New Testament, Injll Gospel of Thomas the Israelite 84 " Gospels," by Schmiedel 80, 83

Government census

reports, see

Census

Government of India, action, regarding Badr 82, 104, 117; regarding Cawnpore mosque 114;

113,

regarding

Muham-

mad 'AH 136; regarding

Zamindar 153 Government of Panjab, garding

Ahmad

action re43, 111

officials 98 Grades and growth hereafter

18

Gambling

Ahmad

Ghulam Dastaglr, Maulvi 45 Ghulam Murtaba, Mirza 13, 14

Government

civilization 135

pABRIEL, ^

Khan

personality

Doctrines"

Principle

on, by Sir Syed Ahmad 134, see Old Testament

Generation of Jesus, see Virgin German, Germany 18, 80, 136 Gethsemane, Garden of 85 Ghaza (Warring Expedition) 72 Ghazali, AI- 131 Ghulam Ahmad, Mirza, see

Glasgow Weekly Herald 128 God, attributes 147, 151, 152;

Fire,

Fitzgerald,

169

of Paradise 152, see Paradise Genesis, Book of, Commentary

63,

123

Granth Sahib 106, 107 Greek Physicians 82 Gregory XIII, Pope 72 Griswold, H. D. 20, 21, 27, 48, 72,

Guide, all

30,

112

the,

Ahmad

prophets' 151

Muhammad

37, 98, ;

God

121

12

148;

151

;

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

170

Gurdaspur, Panjab

Guru Nanak, Gurus

13, 118,

119

97; in Kashmir 93; avatar of 106, 108

Nanak

see

guides),

(spiritual

Sikh

106

Nanak,

Hindu thoughts 108 Historicity, of Nanak 108;

of the

New Testament

Amir LJABIBULLAH, *

Af-

of

Holy Ghost, The

ghanistan 70, 74 Hablul Matin 160 Hadh 56 125, see Traditions " Haeckel and Islam" 130 37 Khalil

Ahmad

Home

Al 38

Muslims

in

India 126

;

of

Hurairah, Abu 30 Hurgronje, C. Snouck 18 Husain, Imam 41 Hyderabad 72, 137 Hymns of Nanak 108

69, 70

Hardinge, Lord 114 Hartford, Conn., U.S.A. 31, 74 Hastings, W. 78, 79, 86, 103 Headley, Lord 128, 129, 153 Heaford, W. 75 Heaven, according to Ahmad 63, 64, 147; God the light of 151;

Muhammad gives access to 122, see Paradise. Heavens, Jesus in one of the 28, 78,

Rule

Hospitals, Mission 99 Hughes, T. P. 18, 71, 74

155

Hallaj Hanifite Imams 155, 156 Hard-heartedness, of Jesus 85

95, 101

Home, D.D. 23

Hajj 57, 58, see Pilgrimage

Hakam Hakim

79, 80 History, Professor of Islamic 125

132

77, 93, 124 appearance of Afghans and Kashmiris 91, see Israel Hebrews, Book of, see New

Hebrew, language

;

Testament Hell 63, 64, 87, 96, 123, 147 Ahmad 16, 70ff, of Heresy, of Jesus 118; of a Christian 78 alleged 86, 87; of a Maulvl 119; of the Mu'tazilites 123; punish-

TBN

HAZM

79 Ibn Khaldun 20, 30, 38 Ibrahim of Alleppo 74 Iceland 18 1

'Id, the, or

Td-uz-Zuha or Baqar,

•Id 43 'Id-ul-Fitr 129 Ideals, of Christianity, harmful 75; impossible 135 of Islam, ;

low 135 Idiocy in Islam 20 Idolatry,

Muhammad's compro-

mise with 56 Nanak's opposition to 106 of Hindus, criticised 101 " " 130 Idolatry, Islam and Ijaz-id-Masih 41 Ijma' (Agreement) 42, 67 ;

;

ment of, in Islam 74; by the Jews 87 Herford, R. Travers 86 Hibbcrt Journal, The 18

Ikmal-ud-D'm 92 I la hi Bakhsh 69 Ilham 55 Image, Ahmad, of God 37; of Krisna 51 Images, in dreams 60 of Heaven and Hell 63

Higher criticism, sec Criticism

Imam,

Hinduism, Ahmad's, knowledge

of Mosque, Mauritius 120 Mosque, Woking 129 Imams, Ahmadlya 150 Mahdi,

;

of

17

;

101, 104; 105, 106

criticism

of

24,

51,

proposed union with

a

Hanifite

155, 156

sent to 51, 132 Hindus, converts from, to the Ahmadlya

133;

;

to

Christianity

;

;

;

the last of the 38

Ahmad

movement

;

Imam Husain

41

Imam-ud-Din, Mirza 98 Imfim-uz-Zamiin, Ahmad 37

of

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT "

Imperator" 23 Important Discovery Regarding Jesus Christ, An 94 Imposter, An,

Ahmad,

if

Christia-

nity true 90

Ahmad

Incarnation, 50, 51 Jesus,

Krisna God 96

of

'

of

;

;

Visnu 101; Nanak Krisna, 106 ;'Rama, of Visnu 102 Incarnations, Hindu, condemned by Nanak 106 India, Buddhism dead in 109 Creature, worship of 101; Islam of

'

;

127,

139

133-136,

;

Jesus'

Muslim alleged visit to 92 prophets sent to 109 regeneration of, Christianity's mission 160 social system of 106 uneducated in 104, see British ;

;

;

;

Rule India, Cyclopedia of Balfour 105 India Muslim and the Islamic Review 113 India, What it can teach us, ,

Miiller 102

Indian, Christian teacher, an 19; converts to Christianity 97 ;

Muslims

in

sicians 82;

London 153; phyprince, an

92, 93; prophets, Rama and Krisna 109; story, an 92 into the Ahmadiya Initiation,

movement England

145; into 12S, 151

Infidelity, of

Muhammad

of

122, prophets 87; Prayer

36, 56,

123, 147; of the

of the saints 93, sec

International Bible

Students'

Association 29

Imposters, other prophets not 109 Impurity, forbidden by Islam 152

in

171

Islam

in

of

Islam 69

Y.M.

Committee,

C.A. 160 Intoxicants prohibited 68, 152 Invalidism, of Ahmad 15, 19, 20; of

Bashir-ud-Din 116

Irak 136 'Isd 77, 79, see Jesus. Isaiah, Book of, in the Century Bible 27, see Old Testament

Ishmael, Children of 27 Israel, Children of 27, 90, 91; House of 91; Kingdom of 91,

Hebrew

see

Israel, History of the

People

of,

by Cornhill 91 to

lacking 82; prophets 84, 110

Israelite, father,

Gospel

Israelite,

The 84 Islam (orthodox),

Jesus

Thomas

of

Ahmad

in rela-

tion to 53ff Ahmadiya movement in relation to 118, 120, ;

136ff

Lahore party

;

140

to 124,

in relation

belief

regarding, Jesus' birth 82; Jesus' death 28, second 132 78, coming Jesus' 25ff; Jesus' character 78, 82, the Christian scriptures 132 interthe future life 123 79 intermediate cession 36ff; the ;

;

;

;

;

state

Christianity 75;

Infidels 70, 157, 158 Injil, The 77, 79, 80, see

International

the

the Mahdi 37ff, 7 Iff; 62 sinlessness of the prophets ;

conceremonialism of 57 from 118; converts to 73, d ff e r e n c e s with the 153

81

;

;

verts

New

Testament Inoculation for plague, Ahmad's objection to 49, 50 Inspiration, in Islam 137, 147; of the Bible 79, 134; of the Qur'an 54, 121, 134; human and divine distinguished 54, 55 Intercession, in orthodox Islam 36, 152; of Husain 41; of Jesus 36, 87; of the Meccan idols 56;

i

;

Ahmadiya movement with Sir 134;

by lity

essence

71ff, 115;

Ahmad Khan

Syed

of

Ahmad 60ff, Ahmad to

118, '119, 111, 20; idiocy in 133-136, 127,

60;

129

glorified hosti-

19,

34,

;

120,

India

in

recent 133ff universalistic

139;

periods of development rationalistic

and

51,

155ff;

13

;

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

172

and

unpolitical 133,

134, 136;

dogmatic and political 134-136, 137 dogmatic, supernaturalistic and unpolitirationalistic,

;

cal

136-140, 144

;

rationalistic,

dogmatic and

political 139, 140; misrepresented in the West 126, 129 modifications of 135, 136; the religion of the future 135 ;

Java 118, 120 Jerusalem, destruction of 88, 91 Jesus in temple at 92

;

Jesus Christ's, life, birth 82, 83, 104, 127; visit to the temple 92; baptism 85, 92; miracles 33, 77, 83, 84, 138; failure and success 89; persecution 34, 85;

superiority to Christianity 136 truth of, admitted by Nanak

betrayal 97; d es e rtio n 97 ; alleged trip to the East 52, 78, 90, 96, 114, 132; death and burial 28, 32, 34, 42, 73, 78, 88, 90-95, 97, 107, 116, 132, resurrection 28, 90, 137, 140 107, 138; ascension (Christian

106

conception)

;

Bashir-ud-DIn 122; meaning of, "resigna" tion 60 scholastic 174 its

revival

by

;

sources

;

64

of

;

spirit

of

135

;

wickedness of 35, 68, 69,

70, see

107, 138; 28, 78, 132; prophecies 33, 44, 49, 78, 87, 88, 90; teachings 29, 87, 88; character besmirched 81,82, 85, 89, 99, 138; praised 35, 75, 84, 99; doctrine of the person of, Incarnation 96; atonement 95, 96; one Person of the Trinity

Muhammadan

"Islam" 130 Islam 120 " Islam and Civilization " 130 Islam, Aspects of, by Macdonald 21, 135 Islam, Religious Attitude and Life in, by Macdonald 20, 55, 58 the

Islam,

Awakening

of,

by

94, 95; sinlessness 36, 80, 81, 84; intercession 36, 87; divinity and deity 80, 83, 86, 87, 88, 89; Christian worship of 33, 41; second advent 26, 31, 38, 52, 119, 138; 122, 132, 137, Ahmad's unique relation to 27,

Heaford 75 " Islam in Kashmir," by Walter 93 Islam Mittrian 120 Islam, the Faith of, by Sell 37 Islam the Spirit of, by Amir'Ali 64, 65, 66, 135 Islam, the Teachings of, by MIrza

Ghulam Ahmad 16, 54, 55, 57, 58-63, 143' Islam, Vorlesungen uber den, by Goldziher 131, 134 " " 130, 151ff. Islam, What is? Islamic History, Professor of 125 Islamic Review and Muslim India, The 113, 127, 128, 129, 130, 151

31-34; a Prophet in Islam ('Isa) 32, 38, 77-79, 84, 87, 119, 128, 151, 154 Jesus Christ, An

Important

Discovery Regarding 94 Jesus Christ as Man and God" 130 Jesus of Nazareth, by Krauss 86 Jewish, appearance of Afghans and Kashmiris 91 eschatological hopes 25ff, 28, physicians 42 Rabbinical writings, sources of Islam 64 Jewish Encyclopedia, The 18, 26, 86 Jewish Life of Christ, The 86 Jews, the, abused by Jesus 85 attacks on Jesus 81, 82, 84 attitude towards Jesus 86, 87

"

;

;

Islampur 13 Italy 18

TAGIRDAR

98

J Jainism 17 Jamd'at 150

Jammu Japan

84,

(Muslim conception)

45

18, 49

118

INDEX ceremonialism 68; crucifixion

of

95; denial of Christian Trinity 94; name for Jesus 77 persecution of Jesus 34, 85, 89 religious leaders corrupt 34, 35

Jesus

women's

position

among 127

writings plagiarized by Jesus 88 [helum, District, Panjab 45 libra'il 23, see Gabriel Jihad 38, 70-74

Khalifat-ul-Masih 113, 149, see Nur-ud-Din, Bashir-ud-Din Khalsa High School, Lahore 108 Kharijites 17 Khilafat 115

Khinzir

|ohn, Gospel of, see New

John of

Testament

Damascus 92

92 Jonah 90 fosaphat 92, 93 [oseph 93 [oseph (in New Testament) 127 in absent Judgment, critical, Ahmad 18, in the Ahmadiya

movement

133, 139 25, 28, 37, 71, 122, 123

Day

32,

God 96

Kablra (greater sins) 123 Kafir 41, 70, 115, 123 Kalima 107, 128, 129

Kamal-ud-DIn, Khwajah

Kingdom, Son 91

the, of

Man

17, 24,

Panjab 49

103, 106 Kashmir 52, 78, 90, 94, 116, 132

91,

92,93,

Keshab Chandra Sen 105, 135 Keswick movement 18 Khaldun, Ibn, Mukaddima 20, 30, 38. of

29;

of the

of

Israel

Koran, see Qur'an " Koran, The, according Ahmad," by McNeile 121 Koran, Preliminary Discourse by Sale 25, 30 Korea 49

to

to,

Krauss, Dr. S. 86

Krisna50, 51, 102, 110,

AHORE

17,

20, 24, 42, 47, 96, 108, 114, 124, 160 125, 126, Lahore party, the 115, 116, 124,

L*

69,

74,

19,

136, 152 Lectures, see Debates and discussions Leitner, Professor 126.

Lekh Ram, Pandit 43, 111 Leon, Professor H. M. 128 Letters from a Living Dead Alan, by Elsa Barker 23 Leyden Encyclopedia of Islam 18 Liberal, Government in Great Britain 48, religion, in U.S.A. 53; of Syed

first,

God

88, 90;

;

Karma

Khalifa,

of

68,131, 135,145, 147,148, 151; of Moses 87, 88 of nature

74, 99, 113, 118, 125, 126, 127 129, 139, 153, 154 District,

S. 64, 66, 68

124-125, 140 Lalitavistara 92 Last Day, see Judgment Day Law, of God 121; of Islam

140 KA'BA Kabir 106

Kangra,

41

)

King-Emperor, the 47

I

30,

"Julia" 23 Justice of

pig

Kipling, Rudyard 154 Kitab-ut-Taivdsin, by AI-Hallaj 38

fohn, the Baptist 28, 82, 85, 88,

ludgment

(

Khuda Bukhsh,

lizya 71

[ohannine Sect, 18

173

Ahmadiya move-

ment 111, 113, 149, see Nurud-Din; second 114, 149, see Bashir-ud-DIn. Khalifas, early, of Islam 17, 73

Ahmad Khan

65,

134 Liberty

of

the

Press

138;

worship 155 Lilith 26 Lindsey Hall, London 153

of

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

174

Literature, of Ahmadiya moveof Qadian party 117, ment, 17 ;

118, 120

126 Lodge,

;

of

Lahore party 125,

Sir Oliver

London 64, 118, London Muslim

23

120, 127, 153. Literary Society

Ahmad

Loyalty, of

18

Ahmad

116, 139

Luck now 67 Luke, Gospel

ment Luxury condemned Lye T. K. 120

A.

New

of, see

Testa-

35, 68

OXON"

(Rev. S. Moses) 23 Macauliffe, M.A. 108

Macdonald, D.B.

W.

20, 21, 42, 55,

76,

Martyrdoms

of

Ahmad 's

follo'wers

74

Jesus, son of 29, 30, 32, 86, 94, 122; character of, aspersed 82, 84, 127; alleged insults to, by Jesus 86; see

80,

Mariam, Virgin Masabih as Sunna 30 Masih,'Khalifat-ul 113, 115, 149 Materialism, of Europe 99, 129; of Islam 35, 68, 135 of,

see

New

Matter, eternity of 103 Matriculation examination 117

Ahmad called a 98 of of Lahore Bengal 119 46, 125; a renegade 1]9 Maulvis, corrupt 35, 69, 96 educated 67, 98 Mauritius 118, 120

Maulvi,

;

East

;

88

Mecca

58, 73, 106, 107, 108, 139,

140.

Mahadevajl 101 Mahdl, The, Ahmad

Media 91 16, 25, 37-

135, 147; 39, 71, 111, '119, not a man of blood 38, 71-73

"Mahdis bloody"

Testa-

;

Madrassah at Qadian 117 Magdalen, Mary 86

Ahmad Magog (Majuj) 31

New

Marquis, Captain Stanley 153

Matthew, Gospel Testament

58, 65, 135

Magnetizer,

Mary

of, see

Mary,

and

his family to Government 13, 14, 35, 7174 ; of Muslims in India 73, 74; of the Qadian party to

M.

Mariam

77. see

19, 70,

London Quarterly Review

of

("Ointment

Jesus") 41, 90

Mark, Gospel ment

127

a

Marhdm-i-'lsa.

71

Mahdiism 138 Majuj (Magog) 31 Malabar 118; North 119 Malachi, Book of, see Old Testament

Malay 126 Manifestation, of Ahmad, Bashlrud-DIn 149; of God, Ahmad of 76; Muhammad 56; 36, Muhammad, Ahmad 122, see

Buruz

Mansukh (abrogated) 42 Mantra, C. H. 120 Maracci 30 Marlthas, the 133 .Margoliouth, D. 18, 78, 79

Mediator between Ahmad 37, 76

God and man,

Medina 93, 132, 139 Medina Suras of Qur'an 68 Mediums, Spiritualistic 23 Mercy of God 96. Mesopotamia 91 Message of Peace, The, by Ahmad 24, 104, 105

Messenger of God, Ahmad 148, 149; 150; Muhammad 128, 145, 149 Messengers of God 149, see Rasiil Messiah,

the Promised,

Ahmad

20, 21, 25-37, 39-51, 76, 111, 124, 132, 145, 147, 149 of America, J. A. Dowie 32, 45 16,

;

;

of Muhamof Moses, Jesus 33 mad, Ahmad 33 was not Jesus 87 ;

;

INDEX " Messiah of Qadian, The," by H. D. Griswold 20 Messiahship of Ahmad, proved by Jewish prophecies 25-27 27-29 Christian prophecies reMuslim prophecies 29-31 ;

;

;

velation

identifying with Jesus 28, 29, 122 in

larity

of

situation

Ahmad

simi-

;

Ahmad

175

Missionaries,

misrepresentations

of 130

work,

Missionary

Samaj

Arya

at

Ahmadiya community

103;

Ahma-

Qadian '117-120, 148;

diya party in Lahore 116, 124, 125, 126; Christian, changed of success of 97 spirit of 99 ;

;

Lahore party

in

England 118,

Ahmad's Jesus, 34-37 manifestation of and superiority to 36, 37 Ahmad's fulfilment of pro-

125, 126-130, 138, 153, 154 Missionary Conference, World's 18 Missionary Review of the World, The 47

Mahdi

Modern Movements among Mos-

and

;

Muhammad

regarding outward' signs 39-50

phecies

37-39

;

the

;

identity of

Ahmad

50-51; Ahmad's

;

and Krisna

"great

dis-

;

;

;

;

;

Mi'raj-ud-Din 13, 15 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, see Ah-

mad "Mirza Ghulam Ahmad,

A

False

Messiah of India," by R. Sirajud-DIn 47 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Mehdi Messiah of Qadian, by H. D. Griswold 21, 27, 48, 72 Mirzais 111, see

India, by

Ahmadiya

Modernism in the Roman Catholic Church 18 Modifications necessary in Islam 135, 136 Mohammedanism, by C. Snouck Hurgronje 38 Monasteries, Muslim 68. Monghyr 118, 155, 156, 157

Monogamy,

99

;

in

Monotheism, of Muslims 101 of Vedas denied 102 Montagu, E. S. 126 Moplahs 119 Moral responsibility 152 Morality, of the Ahmadiya movement and Baha'ism, a failure ;

138; of Christianity, a failure 89, of Islam, practical 135 ; 161 low 135 severe 135 Mormonism 17 ;

;

Moses 27, 33 87, 154.

"Moses, Rod

of

128,

88,

151,

" 69

Moses, Rev. Stainton 23.

Moslem,

Misrepresentations of Islam in the West 126, 129, 130 Missionaries Christian 13, 14, 17, 18, 31, 33, 34, 44, 54, 85, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 130, 137, 160;

Moslem

118, 125

in Christianity

Islam 66

Mishkat-ul-Masabih 71, 81

Ahmadiya,

in

N. Farquhar 92,

J.

133

coveries," see Discoveries

Messiahship, My Claim to Promised, by Ahmad 25 Dawn books, by Millenial " Pastor" Russell 23, 29 Millennium of Muslims 25, 26, 28 Miracles and signs, of Ahmad of Islam 40, 39-50, 93, 143 67 of Jesus 33, 77, 83, 84, of Muhammad 39, 40, 138 of Na'nak's chola 106, 56, 84 of the prophets 122, 148 107 of the saints 69 Miraculous, the, denied by Buddha, 109; denied by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan 67 ;

lems, by S. D. Wilson 138

Modern Religious Movements

see

Muslim

Christ

,

The,

Zwemer

39,

77, 78

Moslem League, the, All-India 67, 114, 126, 136, 140 Moslem World, The 18, 42, 55, 93, 112, 121

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

176

Mosques

Mujaddid ("Reviver") Ahmad

Muftis 70

Mukaddima

68, 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 120, 128, 129, 153, 155, 157

Mughal

race 13

30,

Muhammad, Ahmad 's, relation

122

to

36,

37, to

superiority

;

78

death

Jesus'

;

Mullahs

by

Miiller,

and character

Ishmaelite stock

27

;

,

;

131, saviour 56

;

be 155ff,

Mysore 72 Mythology, Hindu 102

;

Servant of

Muhammad

;

God

122, 128, 145, 151

'AH,

editor of

Com-

VMB/,

Prophet Jesus 77, 119 115, see Jesus Christ Nadwat'-ul-'Ulama 67, 68 107, 108 Nanak, Guru 106, Nature, denial of the Trinity in

Muhammad

'Ali li4, 125, 126

Maulvi

17,

Din, Maulvi 117 Hasan, Maulvi 45 Husain, Maulvi 16,

94; law of 135,152; worship of, in Islam 101

43, 46, 111'

Muhammad Ibn-i-Bahwaih 92 Muhammad Inayat 'All 39 Muhammad Ismail, Maulvi 45 Muhammad Sadiq, Mufti 117 Muhammadan — apologetics 127 Muhammadan commentators and ;

theologians 58, 79

;

in India, sec India,

community Islam.

Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh 67 Muhammadan Educational Conference 66, 67

Muhammadan

Tract and Depot, Lahore 39

Book

;

Ahmad

^

rade 136

Muhammal Muhammad Muhammad

Muham-

Islam,

Mu'tazilites 65; 123, 134 Mutiny of 1857, the 13

titles

Messenger of God 128, 145, 151 model for human guidance the Moses of Islam 27 122

of,

;

see

madan

145, ;

Ahmad

by

Muslim High School, Lahore 125 Muslim India and I slamicReview The 99, 113, 126, see Islamic Review Muslims, Ahmadls declared to

;

109,

of the,

57, 60

;

;

56, 93, 97, 147, 148, 150

102

Doctrines

;

122 warlikeness 89, see Jihad offices of medium of revelation 65-67, 121, 142 prophetship (Last and Seal) 55,

56,

Max

Musaliar 120

40, 56, 84 prophecies 29-31, 49 success 89 buried in Medina 93, 132, 139; sense of sin 131; sinlessness ;

Maul-

Mushrik 41 Muslim Faith, The Fundmental

of,

miracles

and signs 39,

see

Munshi Fazil examination 125 Murtadd 74

orthodox Islam

later

life

35,

16, 30,

Multaqa-ul-Abhdr 74

Jihad personality 78; Christian attacks on 81 ; tion of, 68, 75 ;

Ibn Khaldun 20,

vis

Jesus' 71, deser-

;

of

38

Mulham 55

spiritual 50, 121, 37, 132 the Bible ;

belief of, regarding,

79

131

116,

•

Neo-Musalmans 120 " " Neurotic theory miracles 83

of

Jesus'

New Dispensation Samaj 105 New Schaff-Hcrzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knoivledge 92

New

echoes of, in historiteaching 60 Jesus in 78, 79 city of 79, 80 prophecies of, fulfilled in Ahmad 27, 29 quotations from [New Testament, quotations froml Matthew (4: 4)58; (12: 31) 80 (12: 39)83; (12:40)

Testament,

Ahmad's

;

;

;

;

;

INDEX 90; (12: 48) 86; (15: 24) 91 (17: 12) 28 (16: 28) 88, 90 (24: 34) 87 (20: 1-16) 27 (27: 42) 89; (27: 46) 80, 86 ;

;

Mark

(3: 21)

(10: 18) 87

34) 17) 36) 21) 92;

;

80; (10:17) 80 (13: 32) 80; (15

80; Luke (1: 17) 88

;

(2

28; (7: 37, 38) 86; (22 89; (23: 43) 87; John (4 27; (10: 8) 88; (10: 16) (14: 12) 87; (14: 25) 30 (16: 7)27, 30; I Corinthians(2 9) 61; Hebrews (5:7) 85; (7

25) 36, 87; I John(4: 1-3) 27 Revelation (20: 1-10) 26; (2 8) 31 "New Testament, The Age of the" 130

New

Theology, The IS York Times, the 153 New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society 118 Nimaz57, 153, sec Friday prayers Nineteenth Century, The 92

New

Niyoga 103, 104 Nizam of Hyderabad, The 137 Noldeke, E. 18

Non-Ahmadi Muslims, relation of, to Ahmadis 115, 116, 117,

177 27; (41:2)27;Ezekiel(39: 16) 31; Malachi (4: 5) 28

Omar, Khalifa 122

Omar Khayyam

64

Orders, religious, see Darwish Original Sources of the Qur'dn, The, by Tisdall 64 Orissa 118 Orthodoxy of Ahmad 53ff, see

Islam (Orthodox)

Oudh 72 Outcastes 97

OAIGHAM-I-SULAH

r

Palestine

18,

12S

93

Palmer, E. H. 121 Hindu 106 Panipat 120

Pandits,

Panjab, the 13, 40, 42, 49, 72.10S. 108, 112, 118, 119 126, 156 Panjab Census Report 98 Panjab Chief Court 42 Panjab, Government of the 43, 111, 153 Panjab University 117, 125 Paraclete, the 30 Paradise, at the mother's feet 152; hereafter

60,

123,

61-63, 87,

regarding 88, 89 North Africa 153 North Malabar 119

on earth 59, see Heaven Parallelism, between the Ahmadiya movement and Baha'ism claimed by Ahmad 53, 138 between Jewish, Christian and Muslim Messianic prophecies

Nur

Notovitch, Nicolas 92 117

Pardah, 67, see Veil, the

Nur-ud-Din, Hakim

Pardon, sec Forgiveness Pariahs 97, 134 Parkinson, J. 128 Parsls, the 42, 51, 133 Path of God, the 59 Patna High Court 155 Paul, St, 99 Peer, Lord Headley 153

150 Non-resistance,

teaching

Jesus'

;

;

25-27

40, 82, 111, 113, 114, 115, 122, 139, 149

(OBSCURANTISM ^ ianity 75

151

of

Christ-

"

"Ointment of Jesus 41, 90 Old Testament, History of 91; prophecy fulfilled in Ahmad 26, 27; prophets of 83, 84, 88, 151; O d Testaquotations from ment, quotations from] Genesis (2: 8) 26; Deuteronomy (18: 18) 27; (33: 2) 27; I Chronicles (5:26) 91; Isaiah (21: 6) |

1

Perfection, in

faith

Ahmad

hereafter

and 36,

Trinity 95 65, 66, 75

;

;

Muhammad

143; of of

61-63; 123 of Christian

60,

works

;

Islam 54,

of Jesus 36,

36, 121, 122

64; 84, of

THE AHMADlYA MOVEMENT

178 Periklutos 30

Polyuria, 153, 160 128, 130

;

;

disease 15, 20

of

Lahore

of

Qadian

Post-Resurrection appearances of

of

;

Jesus 90

120 of

Ahmad's

Pope Gregory XIII 72 Pope Pius V, 72

17

Ahmadiya

Periodicals, Islam 136, party 127, party 117, Persecution,

Ahmad

34,

19,

of Ahmadls'70, 74, 118, 85 119; of Jesus 34, 35, 89; of Nanak 106 Persons of the Trinity, the 95 ;

Powers

of darkness, the 25 Practice of the Prophet 148,

Pragmatism 139 Prayer, Prayers, call to 108;

Persia, Persian, Persians 49, 53, 72, 90, 92, 109, 125, 134, 138,

cacy denied by Sir Syed

153 Peshawar, N.-W. F. P. 72, 125 Pfander 18

ture of 57, 59; of of 150, I55ff

of

Muhammad

Khan

67; by ;

149;

effi-

Ahmad

Buddha 109; naAhmadis 115, Bashir-ud-DIn

of

Jesus 85; prescribed Muslim 41, 57, 107, 115, 119, 127, 128, 146, 149, 152, 153; see Intercession

Pharisees, the 34, 39, 85 Philippines, the 118

Philosophy

see

Sunna

22

Indian 82 Physicians, Greek 14, 82; Christian, Jewish, ParsI and Muslim 42 Pigeon, the Holy Spirit 95, 101

Prayer Carpet 108 Prayer duels of Ahmad 32, 44 the Preliminary Discourse to Koran, A, by Sale 25, 30

Pilate 35

Presbyterian Church in India, the

;

Pilgrimage,

of

Ahmad

Baba Nanak

Dera Mecca 58, to

106; to 68, 106, 107, 108, 120, 132, 140 to Medina 132, 139 to Qadian 119, 120, 124, 139, ;

;

149 Pillars of Islam, the five

(Arkdn)

57, 58, 71 Pius V, Pope 72 Plagiarism of Jesus alleged 88 Plague, sign of the Messiah's advent 28, 31, 48. Ahmad's

alleged protection from 49, 50 Plague, A Revealed Cure for the Bubonic, by Ahmad 41 Police arrests 120 Police Inspector of Bengal, a 121 Tower Bridge, Police Court, London 128 Political

controversy 125, 136, 139 Poll tax (jizya) 71

Polygamy,

justified

113,

114,

;

Priesthood, Priests 85, 96, 139, Mullahs, Maulvis, 153, see Missionaries

Progress after death 63, 123 Prohibition, of certain foods 107; of intoxicants 68, 152; of mysticism and asceticism 124; of tobacco smoking 68; relating to non-Ahmadis 115, 118, 120, 150 Promised Messiah, the, see Messiah

Prophecy, Prophecies, denied by in Sir Syed Ahmad Khan 67 ;

by Ahmad 42-50, 108, 122 by Jesus 33, 44, 49, 78, 87, 88, 90; by Muvisions 143; uttered ;

hammad 16,

49; regarding

25-31;

regarding

Ahmad

Bashir-

ud-DIn 122 67,

99;

of

Ahmad 138

46 Presidency College, Calcutta 64

138; of Baha'UIIah of Bashir-ud-Din 116

of Joseph 127, Polytheism of Hindus 101

;

Prophet, a false, Jesus 49, 87, 88 mirProphets, inspiration of 55 acles of 122 of all peoples 109, 115, 122 128, 147, 152, 155; ;

;

of

India,

Rama

and

Krisna

INDEX 110; of Old Testament 83,

Qur'an, the attitude toward, of Ahmad and the Ahmadiya

84,

88, 128

Prophetship, of Ahmad 55, 122, 123, 131, 147; of Jesus 77, 78, 128, 132; of Muhammad 55, 56, 93, 97, 109, 131, 145, 147, 148, 150

movement tians

54',

82

;

;

;

of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan 130 chathe Woking Mission 152 racter of, a guidance for Islam ;

;

;

bites

56, 146 inspired 54, 134, 152 ; a miracle 40; perfect 147; verses teaching of, abrogated 56, 67 147 regarding Ahmad 29, Books and prophets 109, 150 the 147 the divine decrees ;

;

;

;

Ahmad's

Psychic elements in velations

22,

Muhammad's

rein

23, 142-144; 21, 22

antecedents

Ahmad's QADIAN, burial

place

of

;

;

13

;

Ahmadiya ;

24 alleged special protection from plague 49, 50 place of Messiah's advent 52 library at 92 Arya Samaj visits to, of Mr. Daniel at 103 19 of Dr. G r s w o d 27; of of the Prof. Siraj-ud-DIn 46 ;

;

;

1

;

author 116, 139; of lowers 119, 120, 124, 139, 149;

Ahmad's opponents

fol

40, 46

;

Qadian headquarters party 114, 115, 117, 120, 124, 149 133, 138, 140, of

Prophets 81 stages of progress verses cited the Trinity 94 or translations of, into English 120, 121, 125 [Qur'an verses cited or quoted] (II, 81) 81; (III, 214, 215) 71; (III, 40, 42) 77; (III, 43, 47) 78 (11148)32; (III, 52) 26, 82; (III, 43) 84; (IV, 76, 79) 71; (IV, 84) 40; (IV, (V, 156) 78; (IV, 169) 77 116) 94; (VI, 109) 39; (VIII, 39, 42) 71 (IX, 5, 6) 71; (X, 38, 39) 40; (XII, 53) 58; (XIII, 20-24) 152; (XIV, 42) 81 (XVIII, 93, 97) 31 (XIX llff.) 82; (XIX 22-34) 82; (XIX, 92) 29; (XXI, 89) 82; (XXI, 96) 31 (XXIII, 52) 82; (XXIII, 102) 62; (XXIV 32) 67; (XXXII, 17) 61; (XXXIX, 54) 152; (XLI 57) 81 (XLIII, 61) 29; (LIU, (LXI, 20) 56; (LXI, 5) 109 29; 6) (LXIV, 46) 109; 63 (LXVI, 8) (LXVI, 12) 32; (LXXV, 2) 58; (LXXXIX (LXXXIX, 28, 30) 27) 5S 59; (XCVII, 40) 36 Quraish, The 39

59

movement

Ahmad's

;

;

headquarters of

i

;

;

;

;

Infil 79; intercession 36 ; Jesus 29, 32, 33, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, ;

14 birth-place 139; 124, 21,

17,

;

the 83, 84, 132 Jihad 71, 72 the life to come last day 30, 31 monotheism 101 60, 63, 147 Muhammad 39 sinlessness of

modern 23 Psychology, modern 21 Pudre, Viscount de lo3 Puja holidays 119 Puranas, Puranic 83, 101, 105 Purgatory, Muslim 123

Psychics,

of

117, 138, of Chrisof Islam to-day 34 of 14, 17,

147; of Baha'ism 138

Prosecution, of Ahmad 16, 43; of of the editor of Ba'dr 104, 117 the editor of the Zamindar 153 Prostitution 99 Protestant Islam 120, see Wahha-

;

179

later

QadianI 111, see Ahmadiya Qalandar order of Darwishes 108 Qasida Ijazia, by Ahmad 41 Qasur, Lahore District 45 Qazls, in Afghanistan 70 Qisas-ul-Anbiyi 78 Quartremere Ed., by De Slane, of Mukaddima of Ibn Khaldun 20, 30, 38 Queen-Empress, the 157

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

180

DABBINICAL

1X

writings of the

Jews 26 Railways in India, sign siah's advent 31 Ra'is 98 Rama 102, 110 Ramayana, the 102

Ramadan,

of

Mes-

Plague, A, by

Qur'an 109

Fasting 105, 135

Ranjit Singh 13

Ranson, Miss Lilley 153 Rasul, Jesus 77, the Qur'an 40; sec

Messenger of

Rationalism,

137,

153; of Sir Syed 67, 134; of the

151,

139,

Islam 65,

Ahmad Khan West 75 Ravana 102

hereafter 61, 152, see

Heaven, Paradise Redemption, none in Islam 152, see Salvation

Reformer, Ahmad 51, 131, 137, 147; Bashir-ud-Din 122; Jesus 85, 88 Reform, zeal for 134, 136

Reforming movement, the Brahma Ahmad Samaj 105; Syed Khan's party 134 Reforms forced on Islam 143 Regeneration, of India 161; through Islam 60, 64; see Salvation " Relative position of Man and

Woman

in

Islam,

The" 130

Religions Attitude and Life in Islam, The, by Macdonald 20, 55, 58

Remembrance

of

God

152

Repentance 153 Resignation

to

God

(Islam) 60

Responsibility, Moral 152 Resurrection, Day of 25, 32, 63, 147, see Judgment Day; general 28, 147; of an Ahmadiya martyr 107, predicted 70; of Jesus 28,

138

Ahmad

;

;

20, 22, 23, 67, 70, 71, 93, 106, 121, 132, 133, 137, 138, 139, 142-144; to Jesus 79; to Muhammad 22, 70, 136, of other Prophets 137, 143 109; denial of 67, see Inspira19,

;

tion, Rationalism

Revelation, 138, 139 Revelation,

"Revelation

advocated 54, 128, 134; deprecated 136, 139 in religion,

Recompense

41

New mediums Book

of,

see

of 23,

New

Testament

Raymond, by Lodge 23 Reason

to

Ahmad,

Revelations, in the in the Bible 83

Revelation,

fast of 129, see

Ram Mohan Roy

Resurrection, appearances of Jesus, post 90 Retaliation 88 Revealed Cure for the Bubonic

trine of,"

Review 17,

in Islam, The Docby Macdonald 55

of Religions in English 117, 118, 125, 149

114',

[Review

of

Religions] passages Vol. I, (I, 3,

cited or quoted:

—

4), p. 99; (I, 15), 26; (I, 16), 36; (I, 17), 34; (1,20,21), 73; (I, 23), 70; (I,62),69;(I,65), 94; (I, 72), 82; (I, 80), 41; 41; (I, 110), 87; (I, (I, 99) 112), 89; (I, 114), 85; (I, 120), 86; (I, 141), 86; (I, 152), 87; 144), 82, 83, (I, (I, 159), 89, 99; (I, 196), 84; (I, 205), 42; (I, 206), 27, 33; I, 207), 84; (I, 239), 88; (I, 251), 33, 37; (I, 266), 30; (I, 277), 54; (1,280), 95; (1,311), 65, 66; (I, 315) 43; (I, 318), 35, 68; (I, 321), 67; (I, 322), 68; (I, 329), 67; (I, 333), 37; (I, 340), 33, 70, 96; (I, 347), 101; (I, 348), 87; (I, 349), 34; (I, 368), 40; (I, 371), 85; (I, 393), 37; (I, 409, 410), 102; (I, 417), 50; (I, 418), 50; (1,451), 88; (1,452), 86; (I, 453), 83; (I, 454), 84; (I, 456), 40; (I, 457), 95; (I, 463), 86; (1,495), 41. Vol.11, (II, 32, 33), 107; (II, 35, 36), 107; (II, 55), t

INDEX 85 (II, 67), 36, 84; (II, 83), 98 (II, 100), 82; (II, 135), 95 so; (11,-136), 96; (II, 139), I;

67

i;

104; (II, 140), 102, 104; (II, 44; 88; 148), (II, 167), (II, 192), 28,88,89; (II, 194), 80; (II, 270), 85; (II, 366), 29; (II, 369), 29, 31; (II, 405), 19; (II, 421), 32; (II, 446), 70. Vol. Ill, (III. 29), p. 53; (III, 46), 40; (111,327, 328), 96; (III, 331), 30; (III, 340), 32; (III, 341), 32; (III, 350), 44; (III, 378), 98; (III, 397), 26; (III, 399), 68; (III, 411), 51; (111,416), 87; (III, 441), Vol. 69; (III, 449, 450) 56. IV, (IV, 145), p. 66; (IV, 67; 49; 174), (IV, 230), (IV, 272, 273), 65; (IV, 317), 54; (IV, 318), 54; (IV, 355), Vol. 86; (IV, 434, 435), 97.

V, 19 48

'

99, 44;

(V] 477)', 88. Vol. (VI, 25), p. 57; (VI, 28), 57; (VI, 30), 58; (VI, 31, 32), 58; (VI, 230), 74; (VI, 251), 49; (VI, 424), 75. Vol. VII, (VII, 43), 76; (VII, 121), 104; (VII, 124, 125), 104; (VII, 222), 13; (VII, 241), p. 24; (VII, 248), 106; (VII, 256), 104; (VII 257), 105; (VII, 264, 265), 65; (VII, 272), 102; (VII, 406, 407), 97; (VII, 477), 103. Vol. XIV, (XIV, 196), p. 123, (XIV, 217), 116; (XIV, 449), Vol. XV, 57; (XIV, 453), 69. (XV, 9), P 137; (XV, 26), 13; (XV, 41), 140; (XV, 47), 112; (XV, 84), 110; (XV, 121), 49; (XV, 168), 48; (XV, 204), 102; (XV, 224), 120; (XV, 440), 95, 96; (XV, 457), 112; (XV, 475), 123. Review of Religions in Urdu 117 Review of Reviews 18, 23 .

181

" Revival Association, Muslim" Revival in Wales, the 18 Revival of Islam under Bashir-

ud-DIn 122 Reviver,

Ahmad

116,

131,

Mujaddid Richmond, England 126 Rishis, Hindu 51, 105 "Rod of Moses" 69 Roman Catholic Church

see

18, 72

Roman Rose

rule over Jews 35 Hill Mosque 120

Roza

57, see Fasting Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam 64 " Pastor" Russell, 28, 29 Russia 18, 31, 49

OABAEANISM

64 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 85 Sadharan Samaj 105 Sddiq 117 Sadr Anjuvian-i-Ahmadiya 57, 113, 114, 117, 118, 149 Sadr-ud-Din, Maulvl 117, 125, 126, 128 Saghlra 123, see Sin Sahibzada 122, see Bashlr-ud-DIn Saint, Yus Asaf 93 '

Saints 28, 29, 88, 107 Saint's tombs 93

Saint worship

condemned

35, 69,

124 •>

Salat, 57, see Prayer Sale, G. 25, 30, 121

Salvation, according to Ahmad, 17, 57, 76; according to Bashir-

ud-DIn

123

Muhammad doctrine doctrine

;

to according Christian 152 ;

of, criticized of,

30; Hindu 101, see

criticized

Regeneration Sanctification 101

Sargon, King Satan 26, 97

Saum

of

Assyria

91.

58, sec Fasting Saviour, Ahmad 37; Muhammad

56

THE AHMADIYA MOVEMENT

184

Two

Hundred

and

Fifty-two

Authentic Miracles of mad 39

VTNITED 112

T

Muham-

Viceroy of India 114 Victoria Institute of Great Britain

20

PROVINCES,

the

Virgin, Jesus born of 77, 82, 86, 127, See Mary

Visnu 100

America,

Crimes of Preachers in 34; J. A. Dowie on Lake Michigan

Ahmad's greatness Visions, of 15; of the future 142; of the dead, 63, 144

45, references to, in Review of a religious libe-

Vorlesungon iiber den Islam, by Goldziher 131, 134

United

States

of

Religions 17;

55 Union, between Aryas, Hindus and Ahmadls sought 104, 105; of Hinduism and Christiaral in

nity in the Brahma of Hinduism and

Samaj 105; Islam in with God,

Nanak 106, 108; how attained 60 Unity, of

God

103, 106, 127; of

religions 73

" Universal Brotherhood " 130 Universal Mission of

Muhammad

132; of Ahmad 132 Universal religion of the future,

Islam 135

Universalism, of Bashir-ud-Din, 122; of Babism Baha'ism and

Ahmadlya movement 133, 135, 138 Universality of Vedas denied 111 University Hall, Lahore 24 the

Unknown

Life of Christ, The, by Notovitch 92 Unrest in India 47, 113, see Disloyalty

Upanishads, the 102

Urdu language

Wahy

57

Wales, revival

89, 94, 103, 125,

136; with Russia 31 Wars, of Sikhs 13, 108; sign of Messiah's advent 28, 89 West, God of East and 151; meeting of East and 155 Western, acceptance of Islam 135, 136; appreciation of Islam 129;

102,

103,

104,

Vedic Magazine, The 97, 102 Veil, the (Pardah) 67, 99 Vernacular periodicals, 17, 117, 120 see Periodicals ;

Vertigo, disease of

and science 134;

civilization

137; critics of Qur'an 121; education 65, 134; immorality 99; misrepresentation of Islam 126, 129; orientalists 133; scholarship 80 68, 69, 75, 100,

Western Awakening to Islam, A, by Lord Headley 129 Westminster Review, The 18 "What is Islam? " 151ff 129,

Wherry, E. M. 121 Whymant, A. N. J. 128 White, Rev. W. F. 119 Whitehouse, O. C. 27 "Who was the Founder of 'Church

all

101,

18

Religion' in the West" 130 Will, of Ahmad 24, 112, 149; of

126 Usmani, Dr. Syed 120

The \/EDAS, v 105

in

War, with Germany

art

Universal religion of the Qur'an 109, 161

17, 46, 136 (major inspiration)

VY/AHHABITES

Ahmad

15

Ahma'dis 124

Wilson,' S.

G. 138

Ahmad

of

127;

of

114; of Joseph Bashir-ud-Din 114; of

Wives,

Muhammad 87, 142; influencsee ed by husbands 150, 152 ;

Polygamy,

Woking

Women

(Surrey)

Muslim Mis-

INDEX sioninl25, 126, 127,128, 138,

Women,

education of 117, 133; in Christianity and the West 99, 127; in Islam 66, 99, 127; in in Islam in 153; England Judaism 127; in Qadian 115; in relation to Adam's fall 152; in relation to man 130, 152; to be veiled from man 67, 99, 146; see Polygamy, Wives Word, of God, the New Testa-

ment 79; from Allah, Jesus 77 Worlds, the three 61, 63 World's Missionary Conference

13,

15,

22,

Yasu 93 Yisu' 93

Yogis 108

Young,

Sir

W. M.

Young Men's

72

Christian Associa-

tion 160

Yus Afat Yus Asaf

92, 93 92, 93

'All Khan, Nawab 153 ZAFAR Zaid 56

Zakat 57, 59, 124, 149 Zainab 56

Zamlndar 153

18

V"

Yaqub Beg, Mirza 42, 160, 161

153

"

185

2:

Zeitschrift of J. O. S. 27 Zion City, U.S.A. 45, see J.

Dowie

A.

Zionism 17 Zoroaster 110

\AHYA

(John) 82 1 Yahya Siddyk 75 Yajuj (Gog), and Majuj 31

Zoroastrianism 17, 64 Zuhd, 'Id-uz 43

Zwemer,

S.

M.

18, 39, 77, 121

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